UPDATE: The European Court of Justice confirms the €880 million fine imposed on Scania in relation to the trucks cartel.
This decision is final.
Victims of the trucks cartel who have not yet taken action to seek compensation for their losses resulting from the cartel still have the possibility to claim damages against Scania, including for trucks they acquired from other manufacturers. Deminor can provide assistance and funding to cover their legal costs.
Deminor’s funding solution implies that its clients only have to pay a remuneration in case of a success.
Deminor defends the interests of companies from various countries that purchased or leased medium and/or heavy trucks from truck producers that formed a cartel between 1997 and 2011 in order to seek recovery for the losses they suffered as a result of this illicit cartel. Deminor is already funding two collective actions initiated on behalf of victims of the truck cartel.
Clients of Deminor who purchased or leased medium (between 6 to 16 tons) and heavy trucks (weighing over 16 tons) joined a group action aimed at seeking a recovery of losses suffered as a result of an illicit cartel between several truck producers. The cartel led to higher prices for trucks as well as other losses suffered by those who had acquired trucks.
Economic experts have estimated the overcharge to be at levels around 10% of the value of the truck. In addition to damages corresponding to the overcharge, victims of the cartel can also claim interests from the date of acquisition (including via leasing or renting). Since the cartel took place several years ago, interests can result in a significant increase of the damages to be claimed.
On 19 July 2016, the European Commission announced that it had found that MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, and DAF had broken EU antitrust rules. Those truck producers colluded for 14 years, from 1997 to 2011, on truck pricing and on passing on the costs of compliance with stricter emission rules. They acknowledged their involvement in the cartel and agreed to settle the case with the European Commission.
The Commission imposed a record fine of EUR 2.93 billion. Proceedings were also opened by the Commission with regard to Scania, but Scania was not covered by the settlement and so the investigation was continued for this company. This finally led to a decision of the European Commission of 27 September 2017 to impose a fine of more than EUR 880 million on Scania for its participation in the trucks cartel.
The fine on Scania has been confirmed by the General Court and now by the Court of Justice of the European Union. This decision is final. Victims of the trucks cartel who have not yet taken action to seek compensation for their losses resulting from the cartel have the possibility to claim damages against Scania, including for trucks they acquired from other manufacturers. This is a consequence of Scania being jointly liable with the other members of the cartel.
The European Commission explicitly stated in its press release that any person or firm affected by anti-competitive behaviour as described in this case may bring the matter before the courts of the Member States and seek damages.
