Top German court rules leasing customers can sue for damages over truck cartel (updated)

Mandrake Resources

05/12/2023 11:16

(Adds Daimler Truck statement, background)
       KARLSRUHE, Germany, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Germany's highest
court ruled on Tuesday that leasing customers can in principle
claim damages over price fixing that took place among a cartel
of leading European truckmakers between 1997 and 2011.
    The Federal Court of Justice found that collusion on list
prices led to inflated leasing rates, confirming a 2021 ruling
by a lower regional court in a case brought by a customer of
what was then Daimler AG.
    After the spin-off of the truck business from Daimler AG,
liabilities linked to the cartel lies with Daimler Truck
 DTGGe.DE , said the company.
    The court did not give a ruling, which applies to Germany,
on the amount of damages, which is to be set in separate
proceedings. 
    Daimler Trucks said it was awaiting the full ruling with its
reasoning in the next few weeks and declined to comment in
detail until then.
        The complainant, a building materials company which had
leased trucks, took legal action against Daimler AG for
compensation after a 2016 cartel ruling by the European
Commission. 
  
    The Commission had fined Daimler, Sweden's Volvo, Paccar's
DAF Trucks and Italy's Iveco a record 2.9 billion euros for
price fixing and coordinating on the introduction of new
emission technology. 
        The Commission said at the time it had not fined MAN as
it had revealed the existence of the cartel. 
  

 (Reporting by Ursula Knapp, Writing by Madeline Chambers,
Editing by Rachel More)
 ((rachel.more@thomsonreuters.com;))