Chinese state-owned firm faces multibillion-dollar judgment in US price-fixing lawsuit

IRICO New Energy

14/06/2024 23:07

By Mike Scarcella
       June 14 (Reuters) - Chinese state-owned manufacturing
company Irico Group is fighting a potential multibillion-dollar
judgment after a court-appointed fact-finder said the company
destroyed evidence and flouted a judge's orders in a U.S.
price-fixing lawsuit. 
    Irico Group’s attorneys in a Thursday filing in Oakland,
California, federal court said such a drastic sanction is not
justified and asked U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar to allow the
case to go to trial instead.
    The plaintiffs in the long-running case accused Irico of
participating in a years-long conspiracy to overcharge
purchasers of cathode ray tubes once widely used in computer
monitors and television screens. The company has denied the
claims.
    A former federal judge, Vaughn Walker, was appointed in 2013
to oversee disputes about evidence in the sprawling case. Walker
in May said Irico intentionally destroyed evidence and flouted
court rules, finding that it engaged in "dilatory and egregious
litigation misconduct." 
    He recommended "terminating" sanctions, which would mean
Irico would not stand trial and the plaintiffs would win
outright.
    Irico’s Thursday filing disputed Walker’s report and
recommendations, arguing that it “fails to identify a single
instance in which Irico deviated from its standard
document-retention practices.”
    Irico’s attorneys and lawyers for the plaintiffs did not
respond to requests for comment on Friday.
        The Chinese company, represented by international law
firm Norton Rose Fulbright, argued that Walker "misunderstood
the scope of their responsibilities" to preserve evidence and
had “failed to immediately update primitive electronic systems
and Chinese-law-compliant document-retention policies to conform
to U.S. practice.”
    Irico is the last remaining defendant in the cathode ray
tube litigation, which began in 2007. The North American market
was the largest for the devices during the class period,
according to the complaint. The plaintiffs alleged a
price-fixing conspiracy from 1995 to 2007.
    Walker's May report said Irico “has thwarted and evaded its
opportunity to defend the case on law and the merits” and that
it was not unfair to punish the company with a judgment for the
plaintiffs and significant monetary damages.
    
    The case is In re Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust
Litigation, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California, No. 4:07-cv-05944.
    For direct purchaser class: R. Alexander Saveri of Saveri &
Saveri, and Steven Benz of Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick
    For indirect purchaser class: Mario Alioto of Trump Alioto
Trump & Prescott; and Joseph Cotchett of Cotchett Pitre &
McCarthy
    For Irico Group: Jeff Margulies, Kaylee Yang and Geraldine
Young of Norton Rose Fulbright