Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—N.D. Cal.: Interim counsel appointed, consolidation granted in linear resistor price fixing suit, (Dec 22, 2015)

By Linda O’Brien, J.D., LL.M.

The federal district court in San Francisco has appointed interim counsel in eight related class actions by direct and indirect purchasers against a group of manufacturers of linear resistors for allegedly conspiring to fix the prices of linear resistors sold in the United States (Microsystems Development Technologies, Inc. v. Panasonic Corporation, December 21, 2015, Whyte, R.).

Panasonic Corporation, KOA Corporation, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., ROHM Co. Ltd., Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., and Vageo Corporation, and their subsidiaries, are the world’s leading manufacturers of linear resistors. A resistor is a passive component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element and is a common element of electrical networks, electronic circuits, and electronic equipment.

Microsystems Development Technologies provides custom microprocessor application design and development for consumer, industrial, and medical products and purchases resistors as standalone products from distributors. In August 2015, Microsystems filed a complaint, alleging that the resistor manufacturers colluded to keep the price of linear resistors at artificially high levels. Before the court were motions to appoint interim lead counsel and for consolidation.

Interim lead counsel. The direct purchaser plaintiffs stipulated to be represented by one group of attorneys. The court designated Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC and Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP as interim lead counsel after determining that the firms could commit the resources necessary to represent the putative class and were best situated to maintain reasonable fees and expenses after submitting a specific case management proposal to minimize duplication of efforts and ensure oversight.

The court also granted the unopposed motion to appoint Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy as interim lead counsel for the indirect purchaser plaintiffs. The firm had significant experience litigating complex class actions, had sufficient resources to represent the class, demonstrated an ability to work with other firms, and proposed specific billing limitations to keep costs reasonable.

Consolidation. Additionally, the court ordered the consolidation of the seven related cases into the present action for all pretrial purposes to be maintained under the master case file In re Resistors Antitrust Litigation.

The cases are Nos. 5:15-cv-03820-RMW, 5:15-cv-03868-RMW, 5:15-cv-03907-RMW, 5:15-cv-04042-RMW, 5:15-cv-04201-RMW, 5:15-cv-04206-RMW, 5:15-cv-04724-RMW, 5:15-cv-04878-RMW.

Attorneys: Steven Noel Williams (Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP) for Microsystems Development Technologies, Inc. Joseph R. Saveri (Joseph Saveri Law Firm, Inc.) for Chip-Tech, Ltd. Michael Paul Lehmann (Hausfeld LLP) for Top Floor Home Improvements. Jeffrey L. Kessler (Winston & Strawn LLP) for Panasonic Corp. Bruce Douglas Sokler (Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo) for AVX Corp.

Companies: Microsystems Development Technologies, Inc.; Chip-Tech, Ltd.; Top Floor Home Improvements; Panasonic Corp.; AVX Corp.

Cases: Antitrust CaliforniaNews