Boysen USA Hit with Antitrust Class Action Over Alleged Price-Fixing Conspiracy for Auto Exhaust Systems

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Two auto parts suppliers have filed a proposed class action lawsuit in which they claim Boysen USA, LLC had, with a number of co-conspirators, conspired for at least nine years to rig bids and “fix, raise, maintain or stabilize” the prices of automotive exhaust systems sold in the United States.

Citing potential violations of both the Sherman Act and Clayton Act, the lawsuit out of Michigan alleges Boysen USA had from at least 2002 through 2011 colluded with non-defendants Friedrich Boysen GmbH & Co. KG; Tenneco, Inc.; Bosal Nederland, B.V.; Eberspacher Exhaust Technology GmbH & Co. KG; Faurecia SA; Meritor, Inc. and a number of the companies’ affiliates to, among other unlawful conduct, coordinate price adjustments recommended by automobile manufacturers. Boysen and its co-conspirators, the case continues, “held meetings and conversations” to keep a close eye on and police their bid-rigging and price-fixing conspiracy, as well as undertook measures to ensure their conduct remained under wraps. 

According to the 28-page suit, some of which is partially redacted, it wasn’t until a March 2014 Reuters report detailing that the European Commission’s antitrust regulators had raided the offices of some of the defendant’s co-conspirators that the operation began to crumble.

“Defendant’s and the Co-Conspirators’ conduct persisted for at least nine years (2002-2011),” the suit reads. “Had governmental authorities in the United States and abroad not launched an antitrust investigation into anticompetitive conduct in the market for motor vehicle parts, it is likely that the conspiracy would have continued undetected.”