Cartels/Price Fixing
NERA experts have extensive experience in the US and Europe in evaluating allegations of anticompetitive price fixing, bid rigging, customer allocation, buyer cartels, and other forms of collusive behavior. Our past assignments in cases affecting firms operating throughout the world have involved analyses of allegedly anticompetitive agreements, including horizontal (between competitors) and vertical (between firms at different levels of the supply chain) agreements, criminal investigations, and civil matters. Our past work has involved a wide variety of products and services such as agricultural commodities and natural resources, capital equipment, transportation and fuel surcharges, industrial inputs, and consumer goods and services.
Our experts frequently conduct econometric analyses of detailed transaction or bidding data to obtain a clear picture of the effect, if any, of an alleged conspiracy. Such studies may be a major element of an economic analysis of liability, impact (the fact of injury), and damages (the amount of overcharge) in price fixing and bid rigging matters, as well as in other matters involving allegedly collusive behavior. Using such data, our experts assess the volume of commerce affected by alleged conspiracies, calculate the associated pecuniary gains or losses, and evaluate the effective duration and impact of alleged conspiracies.
NERA's analyses in such matters have been used to advise one or more company's managers, owners, or board of directors as to the company's potential exposure from alleged cartel activity, to help our clients negotiate with enforcement authorities around the world (including the Department of Justice and state agencies in the US), and with opposing parties in civil litigation, and to develop expert reports and testimony at trial in courts around the world.
