In yet another ruling, of the dozens of lawsuits filed since 2019 at the Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court (TCRS), based in Santarém, by companies buying trucks in Portugal from brands of manufacturers convicted by the European Commission for price-fixing, MAN was ordered to pay back Alexandre Barbosa Borges (ABB), Ferrovial Serviços and Transfrugal.
In the judgment of June 30, consulted by Lusa, Judge Joana Araújo set the value of the total overcharge which she said was proven to have sustained the companies until December 31, 2022 as a result of the anti-competitive practice MAN was involved in along with other manufacturers for 14 years.
Joana Araújo set the amount to be paid to ABB at EUR 85,640, EUR 54,390 to Ferrovial and EUR 68,145 to Transfrugal, for a total of EUR 208,176, of which EUR 87,704 in interest.
In an interview with Lusa, the judge adjudicating civil and administrative proceedings entering the TCRS since the end of 2020, said there are currently 62 class actions pending against truck manufacturers, with the court handing down 16 verdicts (including joined cases), most of which were partially or fully valid.
Taking into account the procedural stage of the actions, Joana Araújo considers it plausible to admit that most of these actions will initially be completed by the end of 2024, emphasizing that they are processes that are not at risk of being time-barred.
Like popular actions, class actions such as the one against truck manufacturers, also stemming from the Community’s “private enforcement” directive, raise new questions for the TCRS, including the burden of proof, quantification of damages and accounting and limitation of interest, he said.
In these cases, the court followed the European Union directive that prescribes a five-year limitation period for bringing a claim for damages and not the three years provided for in the Civil Code, as the truck manufacturers intended with these claims.
After clarification of this issue, which set the deadline for claiming April 5, 2022, about 40 more lawsuits were filed with the TCRS, joining those filed primarily in 2019, he said.
On July 19, 2017, The European Commission (EC) Imposed a fine of Almost 2.93 Billion Euros on Five of the Main Truck Manufacturers-The German Man (A Volkswagen Subsidiary), which Gave Rise To the Process with A Request for Imwedness, and Daimler The Italian Iveco – For 14 Years of Price Cartel Practices, To What, Added, In September, The Swedish Scania, Raising the Value to 3.8 Billion Euros.
The European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, said at the time that “for 14 years [de 1997 a 2011]these companies negotiated prices and the impact of the costs of complying with environmental standards on customers”, in violation of European Union competition rules.
The values involved in the actions assessed in the TCRS vary depending on the number of trucks and companies involved in each of the processes.
The judgment of 30 June 2009 concerned claims relating to a total of nine MAN trucks (three from each of the companies), acquired in 2001, 2006 and 2009, where the amount of damages determined by the court exceeded the amount in the initial application of 151,118 euros.
Source: DN
