Suit Filed Against Four Major Manufacturers for Price-Fixing in Federal Court

John Draper of Draper's Auto Glass in San Bernardino, Calif., has filed a class-action suit alleging price-fixing against Guardian Industries, Pilkington Plc, Saint Gobain Glass Corp. and Asahi Glass Co. and all their subsidiaries in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In the suit, filed on December 12 under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, Draper alleges that the companies' alleged agreement to fix prices (for which they recently incurred fines from the European Union - CLICK HERE for related story deprived it and others similarly situated "of the benefits of free, open and unrestricted competition in the market."

Draper, who is represented by Chimicles & Tikellis LLP, Labtaon Sucharow LLP and Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP, also alleges that the defendants' actions "unlawfully restrained, suppressed and eliminated" competition in establishing prices paid in the United States and worldwide for glass (both automotive and flat).

Finally, the plaintiff alleges that prices charged to it and other retailers were fixed at "higher, artificially derived, non-competitive levels."

The complaint goes on to say, "This is an antitrust injury of the type that the antitrust laws were meant to punish and prevent."

Draper is requesting a jury trial for himself and others that qualify for the "class" and hopes to recover compensatory and treble damages, the costs of the suit and that the defendants be restricted from further alleged price-fixing.

CLICK HERE for the full text of the complaint.

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