Pepper Hamilton Helps Defeat Class Certification in Truck Transmission Antitrust Case
Pepper Hamilton LLP, a multipractice law firm with a well-reputed antitrust practice, has helped defeat a $1 billion class action lawsuit filed against several truck manufacturers, including Volvo and Mack Trucks, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.
On October 21, 2015, District Judge Sue L. Robinson issued her ruling in In re Class 8 Transmission Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, No. 11-00009-SLR, denying the plaintiffs motion for class certification and dismissing the case.
This is the second of two rulings resulting in the total dismissal of all claims across two classes. Judge Robinson dismissed the direct purchaser action, Wallach v. Eaton Corp., No. 10-260-SLR, on August 31, 2015 for lack of standing.
In both cases, the plaintiffs alleged that Volvo, Mack and several other truck manufacturers engaged in anticompetitive conduct by entering into exclusive agreements with transmission manufacturer Eaton Corporation with the intent to eliminate Eaton's main competitor, Meritor.
Judge Robinson held, however, that the plaintiffs had failed to meet necessary requirements to certify the class. Specifically, she found that the plaintiffs had not satisfied the predominance requirement for class certification because they had not identified common evidence to show that the defendants had paid any overcharges or that any alleged overcharges were passed on to the direct or indirect purchasers.
Rather, according to the opinion, plaintiffs used only "a small slice of data" to make out their case but, in doing so, ignored that, in this industry, heavy duty trucks are built to order and then sold through a complex distribution system. The plaintiffs' expert economist thus masked that many purchasers would have paid lower – not higher – prices. Because impact could only be determined on an individualized basis, the class mechanism was inappropriate.
The Pepper Hamilton team was led by partners Jeremy Heep and Daniel J. Boland, together with associate Michael J. Hartman. Other Pepper Hamilton lawyers involved in the case include Barbara W. Mather, James T. Giles, Barak A. Bassman, Sara B. Richman, M. Duncan Grant, James H.S. Levine, Chad B. Holtzman, Melissa Hatch O'Donnell, Noor Taj, T. Stephen Jenkins and Lindsay D. Breedlove.
Jeremy Heep, lead counsel in the case an co-chair of Pepper Hamilton's Antitrust and Competition Section, said, "Because class actions have the potential to create enormous exposure, it is crucial that courts hold plaintiffs to the governing rules, which are designed to promote fairness and protect the rights of all parties. Here Judge Robinson did just that. We and our clients are pleased with this result."
On the allegations of the case, Mr. Heep said, "This case never made any sense anyway. The notion that the truck manufacturers would conspire to eliminate one of their suppliers was illogical and farfetched on its face."
Other firms in this case were Hogan Lovells, Kirkland & Ellis, Baker Botts and Perkins Coie.
Content contributed by attorneys of Troutman Sanders LLP and Pepper Hamilton LLP prior to April 1, 2020, is included here, together with content contributed by attorneys of Troutman Pepper (the combined entity) after the merger date.