Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—E.D.N.Y.: $50M Air China settlement preliminarily approved in air cargo suit, (Feb 22, 2016)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

The federal district court in Brooklyn, New York, has granted preliminary approval to a $50 million settlement in an action accusing Air China Ltd. and Air China Cargo Co. Ltd., among other airlines, with conspiring to unlawfully fix prices of airfreight shipping services worldwide, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The court concluded that the settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate; was entered into at arm’s-length by highly experienced counsel; and is sufficiently within the range of reasonableness (In re Air Cargo Shipping Services Antitrust Litigation, February 19, 2016, Cogan, B.).

According to the plaintiffs’ memorandum in support of their motion for preliminary approval, Air China will pay the $50 million settlement amount into an escrow account within 45 days of the execution date. Further, $250,000 of the settlement fund may be used for reasonable costs of disseminating notice of the settlement agreement, including the cost of administration. In addition, Air China has agreed to provide cooperation to the class that will aid in the prosecution of antitrust claims against the remaining defendants.

The settlement class consists of all persons or entities who purchased airfreight shipping services for shipments to or from the United States directly from any of the defendants or from any of their parents, predecessors, successors, subsidiaries, or affiliates, at any time during the period from January 1, 2000, up to and including September 30, 2006.

The case is No. 06-MD-1775 (BMC) (VVP).

Attorneys: Edward M. Jofee (Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.) for DJ Fashions, LLC and Alfred Angelo, Inc. Hollis L. Salzman (Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP) for Crismina Garments, Inc. and Angeles Garments, Corp. Deborah Anne Elsasser (Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP) for Air China Ltd. and Air China Cargo Co Ltd. Eugene Frank Massamillo (Kaplan, Von Ohlen & Massamillo, LLC) for Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. Michael R. Atadika (Atadika & Atadika) for Ethiopian Airlines Corp.

Companies: DJ Fashions, LLC; Alfred Angelo, Inc.; Crismina Garments, Inc.; Angeles Garments, Corp.; Air China Ltd.; Air China Cargo Co Ltd.; Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A; Ethiopian Airlines Corp.

Cases: Antitrust NewYorkNews