By Rip Watson, Senior Reporter This story appears in the Oct. 12 print edition of Transport Topics.
Heavy-duty trucking supplier ArvinMeritor Inc. last week won an antitrust case against competitor Eaton Corp., as a federal court jury found Eaton had made deals with truck makers that shut ArvinMeritor out of the heavy transmission market.
The Oct. 8 ruling by a jury in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., will move next to the damages phase to decide the amount of money that can be collected, ArvinMeritor said. Its subsidiary, Meritor Transmission Corp., said in court papers that damages exceeded $800 million. Eaton, Cleveland, said it plans to appeal.
Meritor Transmission entered the transmission market in 1999 through a joint venture with ZF Friedrichshafen AG called ZF Meritor.
“We are elated that the jury recognized Eaton’s wrongful conduct in violation of antitrust laws that harmed competition in the markets for heavy-duty truck transmissions, forced us to exit the NAFTA linehaul transmission business and led to the demise of our joint venture with ZF Industries,” Charles “Chip” McClure, ArvinMeritor chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The plaintiffs argued Eaton entered into “exclusive dealing contracts” with every major truck manufacturer that effectively foreclosed ZF Meritor from 90% of the market.
The verdict last week established that Eaton engaged in conduct that violated two antitrust statutes, the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act, and was liable for it, said the statement by ArvinMeritor, Troy, Mich.
“We sought to protect our loyal customers who have relied on our superior products and services,” McClure said. “We knew our customers deserved the right to choose the transmissions they specify and that a significant number of those customers would have preferred ZF Meritor transmissions, had they been available without restriction.”
“We intend to appeal the ruling and are reviewing all of our options,” Eaton spokesman Gary Klasen said in a statement. “Eaton is disappointed with the decision. The court has made no ruling on any allowable damages at this stage of the litigation. It is inappropriate for us to comment any further at this point.”
ArvinMeritor filed the lawsuit three years ago. The trial continued for a month before a jury reached a verdict after four hours.
