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Capacitor Purchase via Distrubutors 2002-2014 Class Action Lawsuit

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  • Capacitor Purchase via Distrubutors 2002-2014 Class Action Lawsuit

    I received a 12 pg notice from Capacitors Indirect Case (document attached) which could result in getting your share in a Class Action Settlement against numerous Defendants in the case, including Elna, Matsuo, Nichicon, Panasonic, Sanyo, Rubycon, Nippon Chemi-Con, United Chemi-con to mention a few. The case has to do with an unlawful conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain or stabilize the price of Film and Electrolytic Capacitors.

    Details on the case, what you have to do to file a claim, legal fees via appointed Class Counsel, etc are all within the file. I believe this is only for US citizens, or those purchasing thru US Distributors.

    At least since I've been doing maintenance/repair at CenterStaging since March, 2009, I have most of the receipts in my database. Since this case covers the purchase from Distributors between 2002 and 2014, digging out the receipts before 2009 will be tedious, but, all those purchases were done via CC, and I no doubt have the actual receipts filed away for use in my yearly tax filings for my business.

    Not that it will amount to much, not being a manufacturer, but, it might be worth putting together the details and filing the form. It looks like the Attorney's fees is around 30%, so that's a slice off the top on whatever might come your way if your claim is found valid.

    Capacitor Purchase via Distributors Lawsuit.pdf
    Logic is an organized way of going wrong with confidence

  • #2
    Stinking to high Heaven.
    Absolute best case: dollars to lawyers, cents to you.

    A similar case:
    Post subject: Re: "Capacitors Indirect Settlement"
    PostPosted: Apr Fri 07, 2017 3:01 am

    Not involved in this one, but about 10 yrs. ago was part of a stock price Class Action. I spent about 2 hrs. finding old documents and calculating numbers. The company had agreed to about a $200 million settlement.

    Sent in all the forms. Our potential payback was about $1800.

    2 years later, we got a check in the mail.
    Our share, after lawyer fees, was $89 !

    Rich
    Juan Manuel Fahey

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    • #3
      THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

      But I don't want to poop in nevetslab's punch bowl either. Even if the dollar amount is low there's still some civic duty to bring justice. We can't have companies that are supposed to be in competition with one another colluding to fix prices. That said...

      I have no idea what the laws are like where the parent companies for these manufacturers operate. It may be that buyers can't effectively impose their own countries laws on sellers? And I don't even doubt that any price manipulation conspiracy on their part had nothing to do with profiteering and was more a matter of mutual survival. Look at what the amp related axial cap industries have done to prices! I can get Nichicons or Panasonics that are better for one third the price. That doesn't seem like profiteering. Just sayin'.
      "Take two placebos, works twice as well." Enzo

      "Now get off my lawn with your silicooties and boom-chucka speakers and computers masquerading as amplifiers" Justin Thomas

      "If you're not interested in opinions and the experience of others, why even start a thread?
      You can't just expect consent." Helmholtz

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      • #4
        I too received the notice! Fear not, the Lawyers can make AT MOST only $905,071.23 (from page 5) so the poor guys are probably barely able to get out of bed in the morning for such meager sustenance...

        But I'm too busy documenting my 437,348 separate purchases of EL and film caps from Jan 1, 2002 - Feb 28, 2014* to care about who is the greatest beneficiary of this noble effort to look out for us "little guys"

        * the easily accessed total from the 2300 odd page Excel file I've been dutifully populating for about 1h every day for the last couple decades, I just KNEW it would eventually pay off!

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        • #5
          In all seriousness this case if pretty fascinating, the cap cartel began meeting in 2002 and met regularly to fix prices, they even describe Nippon Chemicon and Nichicon being repeatedly scolded for lowering prices too much and not "holding the line" . And EVERY large Mfg was involved. And it included EL, Tant, Film and ceramic caps!

          Several US cap distributors launched cases against the cartel,they make fascinating reading, see:
          https://www.docketbird.com/court-doc...cv-03264-01355
          (they allege the fix was in in both North and South America!)

          Remember this was all happening in the middle of the so called "Capacitor Plague" of 1999-2007
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

          which may or may not have been orchestrated to drive sales of top line price fixed caps!

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          • #6
            Wow.
            Cap prices didn't seem to be that inflated, especially buying volume like I do for my company.

            It's like every major industry is corrupt.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by drewl View Post
              Wow.
              Cap prices didn't seem to be that inflated, especially buying volume like I do for my company.

              It's like every major industry is corrupt.
              I think in reality "every major market is (to some degree) managed"
              Why compete when the REAL enemy is the customer?
              (this is a paraphrased quote from an (also Japanese!) competitor of Archer Daniels Midlands while they conspired to fix lysine prices, as dramatized in the Matt Damon movie: The Informant!)

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              • #8
                The main problem is all markets are compromised.

                20 former famous brands closed/disappeared/ere absorbed and are currently made and sold by a single monster entity, rinse and repeat.

                So 60/100 possible competitors reduced to 4 or 5 actual ones ... easy to sit them around a coffee table and settle prices, selling zones, whatever.

                Copypaste from the *first* google example, as said above rinse and repeat:
                Vishay has grown through acquisitions to include such top names as Dale, Sfernice, Draloric, Sprague, Vitramon, Siliconix, General Semiconductor, BCcomponents, and Beyschlag.
                Company Info - Vishay
                Legally, nobody can accuse these brands of "colluding with each other" , they are all "brands" (think rubber stamps) from a single company to sell their products.

                But don´t worry, they already signed the "Modern Slavery Act of 2015"

                No, I´m not kidding:
                http://www.vishay.com/docs/48410/mod...5-jan12019.pdf
                Last edited by J M Fahey; 09-29-2019, 01:41 PM.
                Juan Manuel Fahey

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                • #9
                  I was involved in a class action suit some time ago. My check was for way less than one dollar.
                  It's weird, because it WAS working fine.....

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                  • #10
                    I suspect no one here will get a big payout, but it's still good those guys got their wrists slapped.

                    The fact is, bribes, kickbacks, etc. are just part of doing business in much of the non-western world, so it maybe seemed normal for them.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by mhuss View Post
                      I suspect no one here will get a big payout, but it's still good those guys got their wrists slapped.

                      The fact is, bribes, kickbacks, etc. are just part of doing business in much of the non-western world, so it maybe seemed normal for them.
                      The less people participating in the lawsuit will mean more for the one's who do. So yes not a big payout but my guess is that many won't want to go through the hassle of documenting all of their 2002-2014 capacitor purchases. Which only means more money for the one's that do.
                      When the going gets weird... The weird turn pro!

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by DrGonz78 View Post
                        The less people participating in the lawsuit will mean more for the one's who do. So yes not a big payout but my guess is that many won't want to go through the hassle of documenting all of their 2002-2014 capacitor purchases. Which only means more money for the one's that do.
                        A good point. What about major manufacturers who buy caps by the millions and billions - even if I bought say 10,000 caps in the target time period what kind of settlement would come my way. Hint: I don't bug my bank with checks valued in pennies.
                        This isn't the future I signed up for.

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                        • #13
                          One time I got a check from the IRS for an error they had made. Still have the check for $0.67 as a souvenir. What a joke!! 🤡
                          When the going gets weird... The weird turn pro!

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                          • #14
                            I once got a $5.30 check for jury duty. If only politicians worked that cheap.
                            "I took a photo of my ohm meter... It didn't help." Enzo 8/20/22

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                            • #15
                              I purchased a grand total of $19.00 from Digikey & $9.00 from Mouser.
                              I am not even going to submit.

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