The complaint before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Rogers names major battery makers as defendants, among them LG, Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi and Samsung.
“Lithium-ion batteries have become the industry standard power source for mobile devices such as notebook computers, mobile phones and tablets,” said Berman DeValerio Partner Todd Seaver, one of the attorneys handling the case for the firm. “We believe that the major players in the lithium-ion battery industry fixed prices and that those who purchase the batteries – or products containing them – directly from the manufacturers paid an unlawful overcharge.”
The large scale of the litigation prompted news coverage from a number of media outlets, including Reuters, which mentioned Berman DeValerio’s appointment as one of three firms representing direct purchasers and cited Seaver in its article. During the same hearing, Judge Rogers also appointed counsel to represent indirect purchasers.
Berman DeValerio has participated in the prosecution of a number of similar price-fixing cases recently on behalf of direct purchasers, including litigation against manufacturers of optical disc drives and LCD screens, which are also components in many of the same portable computing devices that contain the lithium-ion batteries.
*In August 2017, our firm name changed to Berman Tabacco. Case references and content published before that date may refer to the firm under our prior name, Berman DeValerio.