Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—NDCal: Restrictions Placed on Interpreters Translating Depositions in CRT Price Fixing Case, (Mar 13, 2013)

By Jeffrey May, J.D.

Interpreters who translate foreign language testimony at a witness's deposition should not be assisting that same witness and his or her counsel to prepare for the deposition, the federal district court in San Francisco has decided. The court accepted a special master’s recommendation in a price fixing class action against manufacturers and suppliers of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) (In re Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation, March 12, 2013, Conti, S.).

The class actions were brought by purchasers of CRTs, such as color display tubes, color picture tubes, and monochrome display tubes, and finished products containing CRTs—including televisions and computer monitors. The purchasers alleged a conspiracy to fix the prices of CRTs and the CRTs contained in these finished products between 1995 and 2007. The purchasers sought to recover overcharges resulting from the alleged conspiracy.

A number of defendants—Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd., Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., and LG Electronics, Inc. —have agreed to settle the allegations. With respect to the remaining defendants, including Hitachi, Ltd. and Daewoo Electronics Corporation among others, the matter proceeded to discovery.

The plaintiffs in the case have objected to the defendants' use of an official deposition interpreter to both translate at the deposition and assist the witness in preparation for the deposition outside the presence of plaintiffs' counsel. The plaintiffs contended that the practice raised the appearance of impropriety as to impartiality and conflict of interest by the interpreter.

The court agreed. Therefore , the Discovery and Case Management Protocol was amended to prohibit an interpreter hired to act as the official interpreter at a deposition from participating in the preparation or counseling of the witness in conjunction with that deposition.

The case is MDL No. 1917.

Attorneys: Guido Saveri (Saveri & Saveri, Inc.) for plaintiffs. Joel Steven Sanders (Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP) for defendant Chunghwa Picture Tubes, LTD.

Companies: Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd.; Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.; Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.; LG Electronics, Inc.; Hitachi, Ltd., Daewoo Electronics Corp.

Cases: Antitrust CaliforniaNews