Samsung, Toshiba Agree to $25M Disk Drive Class Action Settlement

Samsung and Toshiba recently agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations against them that the companies were a part of a widespread conspiracy to fix the price of optical disk drive products.

On Aug. 23, plaintiffs in the optical disk drive antitrust multidistrict litigation informed U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. had agreed to pay $25 million as part of the settlement.

According to the indirect purchasers, the settlement would cover court costs and attorneys’ fees involved with the eight years of litigation as well as provide compensation to Class Members based on how much they spent on Samsung and Toshiba products.

“This settlement is the product of extended, informed, arm’s-­length negotiations between counsel for the parties,” the consumers said in their motion. “The parties reached agreement after eight years of litigation, discovery and investigation and multiple conferrals of counsel and the parties concerning settlement constructs and amounts.”

In 2010, the original litigation was consolidated to include claims brought by numerous consumers including direct purchasers, retailers, indirect purchasers, and states. Throughout the eight years of litigation involved with the consolidated class action lawsuit, plaintiffs have argued that companies such as Samsung and Toshiba conspired together to fix the price of optical disk drive products which are used to read and write data on CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs.

If the proposed settlement is approved by the court, it would bring the total consumer settlement amount to $205 million, based on previous settlements by other defendants in the consolidated litigation.

“The settlement with the Samsung and Toshiba Defendants is for $25 million – approximately 12 percent of the damages attributable to these defendants,” the indirect purchaser plaintiffs wrote in their motion. “This brings the total settlements in the IPP case to $205 million, representing 19 percent of the total damages attributable to all defendants ($1.074 billion).”

In July 2017, a $124.5 million settlement was reached between Hewlett Packard Co. and numerous companied including Sony, Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Panasonic Corp., and NEC Cop. In March 2017, PLDS, Pioneer, and TEAC agreed to pay $55.5 million as a part of the settlement, bringing the total settlement amount to $180 million.

According to the settlement motion, BenQ Corp. and Quanta Inc. have yet to settle with the indirect purchaser plaintiffs.

In December 2017, the indirect purchaser plaintiffs took a blow when Judge Seeborg granted summary judgement to Samsung, Toshiba, and Philips Corps., finding that the plaintiffs had not sufficiently alleged that the supposed conspiracy had pass-through effects.

“The settlement is an exceptional result for the class,” the consumers wrote. “IPPs reached the proposed settlement with these two defendant families despite this court granting summary judgment against the IPPs in December 2017.”

Plaintiffs are represented by Jeff D. Friedman, Shana E. Scarlett and Steve W. Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

The Optical Disk Drive Antitrust MDL is In re: Optical Disk Drive Products Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 3:10-­md-­02143, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California.