Following the exposure of price fixing in the European truck industry, Fieldfisher's combined London and Birmingham team has been working with companies to bring a follow-on claim for financial loss suffered as a result of the cartel.
The European Commission decided in July 2016 that five of the main truck manufacturers (accounting for nine out of ten trucks sold in the EU/EEA) had participated in a cartel from 1997 to 2011 and had unlawfully overcharged their customers as a result.
Those customers have a right to bring private claims for follow-on damages on the basis of the Commission’s decision. To be successful claimants must show that they have suffered loss as a result of the overcharging and quantify the amount of damage suffered.
If your company has:
- purchased, leased or dealt in medium and heavy trucks (anything of 6 tons or above)
- from MAN, Mercedes/Daimler, Volvo/Renault, Iveco and DAF (or their dealers)
- anywhere in the EEA
- between 1997 and 2011
- then you may have a claim.
You could potentially have a claim in damages for the difference between the higher price that was fixed by the cartel, and the price of trucks if there had been no cartel. These claims are often called “follow-on damages” claims.
If your company bought trucks from non-cartel manufacturers, then there might still be a claim in certain circumstances as a result of the economic impact of the cartel on those manufacturers.
Fieldfisher is working with funders to develop different funding model which allows companies to contest the proceedings on an even playing field.
If you would like to discuss this further then please get in touch with Mauzima Bhamji who is representing companies that have been a victim of this cartel
More information on follow-on action can be found here.