Companies involved in cathode ray tube pricing lawsuit reach $528 million deal

Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Five companies, including Samsung SDI Co Ltd and Koninklijke Philips, have agreed to pay a combined $528 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging price-fixing in the cathode-ray tube market, court records show. Consumers who bought televisions and computer monitors sued the various companies in late 2007 and early 2008, alleging an international conspiracy to fix CRT prices. The case was set to go to trial this year. A court filing released on Friday shows Samsung agreed to pay $225 million in the settlement, while Philips agreed to pay $175 million. Samsung representatives could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. In a statement, Philips said the settlement “ends a long-running case that we previously disclosed.” Panasonic Corp, Hitachi Ltd and Toshiba Corp also agreed to settle the class action lawsuit. The U.S. Department of Justice and other antitrust regulators have been investigating the CRT price-fixing conspiracy, which Samsung agreed to admit to in 2011. U.S. authorities alleged that Samsung SDI executives and other co-conspirators held meetings in Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, China and other countries to set target prices for the tubes and divide market share, even if it meant shutting down production lines. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is under docket number Cathode Ray Tube Antitrust Litigation, 07-cv-5944. (Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Chris Reese)