Refrigerant Compressors Antitrust Litigation, No. 09 MDL 02042 (SFC)

Eastern District of Michigan

Class Period: January 1, 2004 – December 31, 2008

Attorneys:

Robert Kaplan Headshot

Robert N. Kaplan

RKaplan@kaplanfox.com
Headshot: Gregory Arneson

Gregory K. Arenson

GArenson@kaplanfox.com

Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP serves as one of plaintiffs’ counsel for the In re: Refrigerant Compressors Antitrust Litigation (MDL Docket No. 02042), pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. This is a class action brought on behalf of direct purchasers of Refrigerant Compressor Products during the period from January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2008. Refrigerant Compressor Products are compressors of less than one horsepower (“Compressors”), as well as products containing such Compressors. The class action does not include air conditioners or compressors used in air conditioners.

Plaintiffs allege that the defendants, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, conspired to inflate, fix, raise, maintain, or artificially stabilize prices and to commit other anti-competitive acts for the purpose and effect of unlawfully inflating, fixing, raising, maintaining, or artificially stabilizing prices of Compressors, which had the effect of unlawfully inflating, fixing, raising, maintaining, or artificially stabilizing prices of Refrigerant Compressor Products.

Defendants Tecumseh, Whirlpool/Embraco, Danfoss, ACC, Panasonic and their relevant subsidiaries are the five largest manufacturers and sellers of Compressors sold in the United States. Compressors are used for refrigeration purposes or in refrigeration products, such as, among others, condensers, residential and commercial refrigerators, freezers and water coolers.

On June 9, 2009 the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized the related antitrust class actions and transferred the actions to the Eastern District of Michigan. Plaintiffs filed a Master Amended Complaint on June 30, 2010.

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