Goodyear, Michelin, others face another class action over tire price-fixing

Tire price-fixing class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Louise Shumate filed a class action lawsuit against Goodyear, Michelin and a number of other tire companies. 
• Why: Shumate claims Goodyear, Michelin and other tire companies conspired to fix, raise, maintain and/or stabilize the price of tires sold in the U.S. 
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Ohio federal court. 
• How to find help: Consumers who bought tires for resale directly from the manufacturer or from one of the manufacturers’ retail outlets or online sites in the last four years may qualify to participate in a price-fixing lawsuit investigation.

Goodyear and Michelin conspired with certain competitors in the new replacement tire industry to unlawfully fix, raise, maintain and/or stabilize the price of tires sold in the United States, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

The complaint is the latest to be filed against Goodyear, Michelin and other tire makers in the wake of a January European Commission (EU) announcement saying it raided tire manufacturers over concerns they may have violated EU antitrust rules via price-fixing. 

Plaintiff Louise Shumate claims Goodyear, Michelin and the other named tire companies injured consumers through an alleged conspiracy to raise and maintain tire prices at artificially high levels in the United States.

“As a direct result of Defendants’ conspiracy, Plaintiff and members of the Class paid artificially higher prices for Class Tires and thereby suffered antitrust injury,” the class action states. 

Shumate wants to represent a nationwide class of consumers who purchased tires from Goodyear, Michelin or any of the named tire companies and/or their subsidiaries or affiliates from March 8, 2020, to the present. 

Tire companies engaged in unprecedented, frequent parallel price increases, class action claims

Shumate argues evidence of price-fixing between the tire companies includes unprecedented and frequent parallel price increase announcements and public signaling that would be against the tire companies’ self-interest in the absence of an agreement to fix prices.

“Absent an agreement to fix prices, Defendants would have competed over market share by undercutting each other’s prices rather than implementing lockstep price increases,” the class action states. 

Shumate claims Goodyear, Michelin and the other named tire companies are guilty of violating the Sherman Act. She demands a jury trial and requests declaratory and injunctive relief along with an award of treble damages for herself and all class members. 

A consumer filed a separate yet similar class action lawsuit against Bridgestone, Continental, Goodyear, Michelin and other major tire manufacturers regarding price-fixing last month.

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

The plaintiff is represented by Daniel R. Karon of Karon LLC and Douglas A. Millen, Robert J. Wozniak, Kimberly A. Justice and Jonathan M. Jagher of Freed Kanner London & Millen LLC. 

The tire price-fixing class action lawsuit is Shumate v. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., et al., Case No. 5:24-cv-00449, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

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• Energizer, Walmart lawsuits allege battery price-fixing
• Generic drug makers to pay combined $45M in settlements to end price-fixing litigation