Panasonic Corp. and a Slew of Other Companies Were Hit with Yet Another Class Action

Law360, New York July 22, 2014, 7:26 PM ET — Panasonic Corp. and a slew of other companies were hit with yet another class action in California federal court on Tuesday accusing them of conspiring to fix prices on a key component of electrical circuits over almost a decade.

Dependable Component Supply Corp., a Florida-based electronic parts supplier, claims that Panasonic, Samsung Electro-Mechanics America Inc. and almost 20 other companies and their affiliates colluded to restrain trade of aluminum and tantalum electrolytic capacitors from January 2005 to the present.“Through their concerted actions, defendants created the market conditions that made it economically feasible for all cartel members to fix, raise, maintain or stabilize artificially high prices on the capacitors they sold during the class period,” Dependable claims.The complaint comes on the heels of a similar suit filed by Chip-Tech Ltd.

on Friday against Panasonic and the other defendants over allegedly restrained market for aluminum and tantalum capacitorsThe tantalum capacitor distinguishes itself from other capacitors in having high capacitanceThat property of a system of conductors and dielectrics which permits the storage of electricity when potential difference exists between the conductors. Its value is expressed as the ratio of a quantity of electricity to a potential difference. A capacitance value is always positive. per volume and weight. Relative to other electrolytic capacitors, tantalum capacitors have low resistance, low leakage, and can operate in higher temperature environments, but non-electrolytics are even better in these regards..According to the suits, the defendants formed their global cartel because demand for their capacitor product lines began to decline in the early 2000s, when newer and smaller electronics products required different kinds of capacitors.

Both Dependable and Chip-Tech allege that the companies reached an agreement to fix prices and reduce production of aluminum and tantalum capacitorsThe tantalum capacitor distinguishes itself from other capacitors in having high capacitanceThat property of a system of conductors and dielectrics which permits the storage of electricity when potential difference exists between the conductors. Its value is expressed as the ratio of a quantity of electricity to a potential difference. A capacitance value is always positive. per volume and weight. Relative to other electrolytic capacitors, tantalum capacitors have low resistance, low leakage, and can operate in higher temperature environments, but non-electrolytics are even better in these regards. sometime around January 2005, via both oral and written communications among executives, sales representatives and other employees.“To achieve their collective goal of artificially setting the price for their respective [capacitor portfolios], each of the defendants shared … confidential and competitively sensitive information pertaining to their product pricing,” the complaints state.

Chip-Tech and Dependable, both of which claim to have purchased the capacitors directly from the defendants, allege that prices for the products began to stabilize around 2005. In the case of tantalum electrolytic capacitors, the price has actually increased, the complaints state.Both suits have claimed violations of the Sherman Act, based on the defendants’ alleged restraint of trade.Joseph Saveri, an attorney with Joseph Saveri Law Firm Inc. who is representing both Dependable and Chip-Tech, told Law360 in an email Tuesday that Dependable’s suit “reflects the fact a number of direct purchasers have retained us to prosecute their claims.”“Our team has investigated those claims for some time, which is reflected in this complaint,” Saveri said. “It also highlights the centralization of the litigation in the federal court in the Northern District of California. We expect these cases to be centralized and prosecuted their [sic].”A representative for Panasonic did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.The cases come roughly one year after Panasonic and its subsidiary Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. agreed to plead guilty and pay $56.5 million in criminal fines for their roles in separate price-fixing conspiracies involving automotive parts and battery cells for computers.