Who is a Class Member
Anyone who purchased at least one of the following items offered by Panasonic, Hitachi, Sony, Phillips, Pioneer, or TEAC between April 1, 2003 and December 31, 2008.
Members only qualify when residents of Arizona, California, Washington D.C., Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, or Wisconsin.
*Panasonic Brand computers are not included in this settlement.
Settlement Amount
$180,000,000
Proof of Purchase
Yes. Class members must file a claim prior to October 30, 2017 in addition to proof of purchase for any and all products built with an optical disc drive purchased between April 1, 2003 and December 31, 2008.
Claim Form
Important Dates
05/24/2017: Defense agrees to settlement.
09/14/2017: Final hearing for settled companies.
10/30/2017: Deadline to make claims.
02/12/2018: Hearing for remaining companies.
Settlement Notes
- In re: Optical Disk Drive Antitrust Litigation
- Case No. 3:10-md-2143-RS
- Pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division
Class members in the Optical Disk Drive class action lawsuit claim the defendants engaged in illegal action to fix the prices of optical disk drives. The resulting effect being that indirect purchasers of ODDs (products including ODDs such as computers) were unfairly priced. This settlement is the consolidation of multiple cases filed against the aforementioned companies following a criminal investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2009. Cases were not officially consolidated until 2010.
Members uncertain of their standing may contact a claims administrator. An optical disk drive is a device that allows data to be read to or from CDs, DVDs, and similar computer software systems.
Initial settlements amounted to $124,500,000 involving Sony, Hitachi-LG, Panasonic, and NEC. These agreements were agreed upon in March of 2017. Pioneer, PLDS, and TEAC filings were settled to an amount of $55,500,000 later in the year. While many of the cases have been addressed, several defense counsels remain at large. This list includes Ben!, Samsung, Toshiba, and Quanta Storage.
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP will represent all class members. The defense counsel is represented as such:
Panasonic and NEC Corporation:
Winston & Strawn LLP
Hitachi-LG Data Storage:
Ropes & Gray LLP
Sony:
Schiller & Flexner LLP
Philips:
Baker Botts LLP
Pioneer:
Jones Day
TEAC:
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Contact Information
Claim Administrator:
ODD Products Indirect Purchaser Litigation
c/o Girardi & Co. LLC
P.O. Box 43424
Providence, RI 02940-3424
Phone: 877-368-9020
Email: info@opticaldiskdriveantitrust.com
Settlement Website