Anti-Trust Lawsuit Progresses

A status conference was held on June 17 regarding the antitrust class action suit charging several U. S. flat glass manufacturers with price fixing. According to court documents, during the conference plaintiffs received transactional data from all defendants except Guardian, who will provide date prior to the next conference, scheduled for September 10, 2009, at 2 p.m.

Plaintiffs will file a motion and brief regarding the European Union submission by July 3; defendants must respond by July 17.

Regarding Electronically Stored Information discovery, the parties must report to the court by July 1 if they agree to this format and scope. If there is disagreement counsel will propose a briefing schedule. Parties will report on where they are with the search terms at the September conference.

The deadline for amending pleadings/adding parties was extended from August 3, 2009 to October 2, 2009.

A total of 13 attorneys representing both the defendants and several of the plaintiffs were in attendance at last week's meeting. Plaintiffs include Maran-Wurzell Glass & Mirror, Gilkey Window Co. Inc., Greenwood Glass Co., Thermo Twin Industries Inc., as well as many others. (CLICK HERE for related story, including a full list of plaintiffs.)

The defendants are: AGC America Inc., AGC Flat Glass North America, Inc. (collectively AGC); Guardian Industries Corp.; Pilkington North America Inc., Pilkington Holding Inc. (together, Pilkington); and PPG.

Plaintiffs allege that the manufacturers agreed to raise and fix prices "through a combination of collusive energy surcharges and price increases."

The manufacturers previously had motioned for the judge to dismiss the suit—and the motion was denied in February.