Case Caption: In re Passenger Vehicle Replacement Tires Antitrust Litigation
Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
Case Number: 5:24-md-3107
Judge: Honorable Sara Lioi, Chief Judge
Plaintiff: Michael Carson, Robert F. Buchner, Robert A. Bowdoin
Defendant: Bridgestone Corporation; Bridgestone Americas, Inc.; Continental Aktiengesellschaft; Continental Tire the Americas, LLC; The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company; Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin; Michelin North America, Inc.; Nokian Tyres plc; Nokian Tyres Inc.; Nokian Tyres U.S. Operations
Class Period: December 1, 2020–Present
This multidistrict litigation alleges that Defendants, the largest tire manufacturers in the world, conspired to fix the prices of replacement tires for passenger cars, vans, trucks and buses sold in the United States. In particular, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants engaged in a series of coordinated and parallel price increases from late 2020 through early 2023, which resulted in an increase in the average price for replacement tires of 21.4%. These price increases occurred in contrast to relevant market forces, notably that the cost of rubber – the primary ingredient in tires – actually declined in 2021 and 2022. As a result of these coordinated actions, the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Union conducted “dawn raids” of defendants Bridgestone, Continental, Goodyear, Michelin, Nokian, and Pirelli citing concerns of “price coordination.”
On March 13, 2024, Kessler Topaz filed a complaint against Defendants on behalf of a class of direct purchasers of replacement tires and asserted claims under sections 1 and 3 of the Sherman Act. On June 7, 2024, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized all cases against Defendants concerning the alleged price fixing conspiracy in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio before Judge Lioi, and Kessler Topaz was thereafter appointed to the Direct Purchaser Plaintiff Steering Committee. On August 9, 2024, the Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs filed a consolidated amended complaint, and briefing for the Defendants’ joint motion to dismiss is underway.