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China: Fines trebled for vitamin C makers who offered rare defense

By  |  March 15, 2013

A jury has found that a vitamin C manufacturer based in China, as well as its affiliate company, are guilty of price-fixing in the US and have been ordered to pay $162 million. The $54.1 million in damages to the victims of the class action suit were trebled for Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co Ltc, the vitamin C manufacturer. Sources say that the two defendants who were previously part of the case settled out of court for a reported $22.5 million. As CPI previously reported, the defendants had used a rare defense claiming that their company forced them to fix prices abroad, a defense known as the foreign sovereign compulsion doctrine.

 

Full Content: Thomson Reuters

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