FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 

Labaton Sucharow LLP Files Three Lawsuits Against Automotive Suppliers Implicated in Department of Justice Criminal Antitrust Probe

NEW YORK (February 1, 2012) – Labaton Sucharow LLP is the first law firm in the country to file three antitrust class action lawsuits yesterday against certain automotive parts suppliers for fixing the prices of and rigging the bids for certain automotive parts, including heating control panels, fuel senders and instrument panel clusters.  The actions were filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and follow an earlier class action filed in late 2011 against suppliers of automotive wire harness systems.  

Labaton Sucharow's civil lawsuits emanate from an overarching criminal investigation by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry.  This investigation has already resulted in nearly $750 million in criminal fines and is expected to yield the largest fines in DOJ history.  Yazaki Corporation and DENSO Corporation, both named in the new lawsuits, have agreed to plead guilty and to pay a total of $548 million in criminal fines for their roles in the antitrust conspiracies.  

Hollis Salzman, Managing Partner of Labaton Sucharow LLP's Antitrust Practice Group stated, "In our experience, when companies engage in price fixing of this magnitude, it is only a matter of time before their house of cards falls.  These conspiracies affected virtually every business and person who owns a car in the United States during one of the most vulnerable periods in our economy."  

The cases are captioned LaCava, et al. v. Denso Corporation, et al., Case No. 12-cv-10410, Kendrick, et al. v. Yazaki Corporation, et al., Case No. 12-cv-10407, and Wilson, et al. v. Yazaki Corporation, et al., Case No. 12-cv-10406.  

Labaton Sucharow LLP, with offices in New York, New York and Wilmington, Delaware, is one of the country's premier law firms representing institutional investors in class action and complex securities litigation, as well as consumers and businesses in class actions seeking to recover damages for anticompetitive practices.  The Firm has been a champion of investor and consumer rights for close to 50 years, seeking recovery of current losses and necessary governance reforms to protect investors and consumers.  Labaton Sucharow has been recognized for its excellence by the courts and its peers.  More information about Labaton Sucharow is available at www.labaton.com.

CONTACT:
Jennifer S. Bankston
212-907-0659
jbankston@labaton.com