India/US: Air India settlement brings antitrust litigation to a close

The final defendant in the long-running air cargo shipping antitrust litigation, Air India, has reached a settlement agreement with plaintiffs.

Law firm Robins Kaplan LLP announced yesterday evening that Air India has agreed to pay $12.5m to bring the decade long litigation over an alleged air cargo cartel to a close.

The agreement means there will no longer be a trial.

“After more than a decade of relentless effort, we are pleased to add these final settlements to our existing recoveries and achieve justice for those impacted by the defendants’ alleged anticompetitive practices,” said Hollis Salzman, co-lead counsel for the plaintiff class.

“The court correctly described this case as ‘irrefutably complex,’ and we were honoured to pursue it on behalf of the victims of collusion among air cargo shipping providers.”

The industry-wide litigation arose from allegations about the pricing practices of a number of air cargo carriers on routes to and from the US from January 2000 through September 2006.

In criminal antitrust probes running parallel to the civil case, 21 different air cargo providers have pleaded guilty and have agreed to criminal fines of more than $1.8bn.

Full Content: Law 360

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