Bridgestone, Goodyear, others to face consolidated tire price-fixing class actions

Tire price-fixing class action lawsuits overview: 

• Who: A judicial panel consolidated 14 class action lawsuits filed against tire makers Goodyear, Michelin, Bridgestone and others. 
• Why: Consumers claim tire manufacturers colluded to artificially inflate the price of replacement tires. 
• Where: The class action lawsuits have been consolidated into Ohio federal court.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated 14 price-fixing class action lawsuits involving replacement tires.  

Tire manufacturers Bridgestone, Goodyear, Continental Tire, Michelin North America and Pirelli Tire are named in the class action lawsuits, which the panel consolidated into a single class action in Ohio federal court. 

Consumers claim the tire companies colluded to force customers to pay inflated prices for tires. In addition to the 14 class action lawsuits, another 21 related actions are pending in five districts, according to the JPML. 

“We find that the actions listed … involve common questions of fact and that centralization in the Northern District of Ohio will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation,” the JPML panel says. 

Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone confirm European facilities inspected 

The lawsuits came in the wake of a January disclosure that officials with the European Commission raided tire companies’ facilities over suspicions they engaged in price-fixing, Law360 reports. 

While the commission reportedly did not call out any manufacturers by name in the wake of the raids, Goodyear, Michelin and Bridgestone — while denying any wrongdoing — would ultimately confirm their European facilities had been inspected. 

The European Commission, meanwhile, called the inspections a “preliminary investigatory step” and says they don’t mean the tire companies are necessarily guilty of anticompetitive behavior, Law360 reports. 

In one class action lawsuit, a consumer argued in New York federal court that the tire makers took advantage of conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic while allegedly conspiring to artificially inflate their prices. 

Another consumer, in a complaint filed in Ohio in March, argued evidence of price-fixing among the tire makers was unprecedented and frequent parallel price increase announcements, along with public signaling they claimed would be against the companies’ best interest in the absence of a price-fixing agreement. 

Do you believe you have been injured by tire price-fixing? Let us know in the comments.

The tire price-fixing case is In re: Passenger Vehicle Replacement Tires Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 3107, before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. 

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