Over $600 million recovered on the global capacitors price-fixing case supported by Infotech Consulting’s expert services
November 10, 2022, Gainesville, Fla. – Infotech Consulting, a nationally recognized leader in data analysis with expertise in statistics, economics, and econometrics, was recognized by the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) with the 2022 Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Award. The company was honored at AAI’s Annual Private Antitrust Enforcement Conference on November 9, 2022.
The AAI Antitrust Enforcement Awards celebrate achievements in antitrust litigation by legal practitioners and economists. Recognized in the economics category, which is reserved for antitrust contributions by an economic consulting firm, Infotech Consulting received the Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Economics Award for work on the global capacitors price fixing case. During this case, Infotech Consulting provided four expert reports, two depositions and expert testimony in both a concurrent expert witness proceeding – known in the field as hot tubbing – and at trial, all of which resulted in settlements totaling over $600 million.
Infotech Consulting’s involvement in the capacitors case began in 2015 when they were hired by Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs to determine whether capacitor prices were elevated to the direct purchasers, and if so, by how much and how persistently across the class. With hundreds of thousands of capacitor products with varying sizes, capacitance, and materials, the amount of data to be analyzed was monumental. Over the course of seven years, Infotech Consulting spent more than 30,000 hours in preparing for this antitrust case.
“We were involved in this case from the beginning of discovery, through class certification and both trials. Our team never backed down from the challenge,” shared Dr. Jamie McClave Baldwin, Infotech Consulting President and Expert. “We are honored for our work to be recognized by the American Antitrust Institute. Everything we do is a team effort, and this award showcases not only the strength of our team but also our antitrust expertise. Our effort helped produce outstanding results for our clients and the class of direct purchasers.”
Ultimately, Infotech Consulting’s work helped to determine that nearly all class members had paid elevated prices on their purchases of capacitors from defendants. To prove this, Dr. Jim McClave, Infotech Consulting CEO and Expert, utilized a two-step method that involved specifying a regression model comparing prices between a benchmark period and a conspiracy period to determine whether prices were elevated to supracompetitive levels, after accounting for relevant competitive factors. This method, now sometimes referred to as “The McClave Method,” has become a standard tool in antitrust class action lawsuits, providing empirical evidence that the anticompetitive behavior resulted in harm to the class as a whole and for establishing what portion of the class was impacted by the anticompetitive behavior. It has since been successfully used to certify classes in a number of cases, including In re: Air Cargo Shipping Services Antitrust Litigation, In re: Korean Ramen Antitrust Litigation, In re: Disposable Contact Lens Antitrust, and In re: Packaged Seafood Antitrust Litigation.
The foundation of Dr. McClave’s analysis was made possible by complex data management work performed by the Infotech Consulting team, which covered more than 20 defendants. This included over 10,000 data files that covered 17 years of sales. It was this combined effort that earned Infotech Consulting the prestigious award from AAI, and it was the foundation for the extraordinarily successful outcome of the case.
Leading up to and during the process of two trials, defendants agreed to refund over $600 million in overcharges, nearly one and a half times Dr. McClave’s estimated damages. Representatives from Joseph Saveri Law Firm, Infotech Consulting’s client, stated, “We strongly believe these ground-breaking settlements will deter this type of collusive behavior in the future, to the benefit of us all.”
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About Infotech Consulting
Info Tech, Inc., DBA Infotech Consulting is a nationally recognized statistical and economic consulting company. From expert testimony to econometric analysis, damages calculation, class certification and more, Infotech Consulting’s team of economists, statisticians and professionals provides complex analyses and clear and concise summaries of findings and results. With more than 556 years of combined experience, Infotech Consulting’s proven process has uncovered groundbreaking truths from data with scientific precision for over four decades. For more information, visit infotechconsulting.com.
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