NEW YORK — A California resident who purchased tires recently has filed a class-action lawsuit in New York against six U.S.-based tire makers, claiming the companies have conspired to “to artificially increase and fix the prices” of new replacement tires in the U.S.
The plaintiff, Rena Sampayan, presents little if any substantive proof in the suit of the alleged collusion, referring instead to a number of unrelated events, including:
- the European Commission’s ongoing investigation of several European tire companies over suspicion that these companies “violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices,” specifically that price coordination took place among the companies; and
- the companies’ “sudden and dramatic parallel price increases,” which absent a conspiracy to fix prices, ran contrary to their economic interests.
Filed in the Southern District of New York on Feb. 7, the class-action lawsuit alleges that the six tire makers — all with operations in the U.S. — conspired to raise replacement tire prices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lawsuit lists Bridgestone Americas Inc., Continental Tire the Americas L.L.C., Goodyear, Michelin North America Inc., Nokian Tyres Inc. and Pirelli Tire L.L.C. and their respective parent companies as defendants.