Bridgestone is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit in federal court in Michigan over allegedly selling anti-vibration rubber parts.
Judge Marianne O. Battani will decide if Bridgestone and others violated consumer antitrust in a lawsuit that says the companies sold inflated rubber parts in an anti-competitive price war with other tire companies, according to legal blog Legal News Line.
In one of the largest litigation lawsuits in the U.S., a complaint first filed by plaintiffs Jerry Anderson Sr., Laura LaRue and Christopher Lee was followed by 39 separate class action suits, the blog says.
The suit has been broken down into settlement rounds and has had a three-year discovery period.
A 2014 suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the North District of Ohio also alleged Bridgestone played a role in fixing prices of automotive anti-vibration rubber parts installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere.
The company pled guilty to the allegations and paid $425 million in fines, according to a Department of Justice press release.
In 2014, more than 25 companies, including Bridgestone, pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in the department’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the automotive parts industry.
