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from Automotive News....

Mercedes will pay $9.5 million to settle suit
Diana T. Kurylko
Automotive News
February 18, 2008 - 12:01 am ET

MONTVALE, N.J. — After more than nine years, Mercedes-Benz USA has settled a class-action price-fixing suit, bringing the total settlement to $17.5 million.

Individual Mercedes-Benz owners in the New York area who participated in the suit will be paid set amounts by a court-appointed administrator.

Mercedes-Benz USA agreed to a $9.5 million settlement — which includes its company-owned store, Mercedes-Benz Manhattan — to end the 1999 suit. It alleged price fixing between the sales organization and 25 dealers in the New York region.

Twenty-three Mercedes dealers who also were sued had settled previously for $8 million. That brings the total settlement in U.S. District Court in Newark to $17.5 million.

Mercedes-Benz and the dealers "deny liability and have settled purely to avoid the expense and uncertainty of complex litigation," according to legal documents.

The class-action suit alleges that Mercedes-Benz and the dealers "unlawfully agreed to fix, raise, maintain and stabilize prices" of vehicles sold in areas of the New York region that include portions of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The suit alleged Mercedes-Benz buyers paid more than they otherwise would have for the vehicles.

Price suit
Mercedes owners and lessees in the New York region who purchased or leased between Feb. 1, 1992, and Aug. 30, 1999, could be paid the following.
• C class: $100

• ML: $348

• E class: $422

• S class: $578

• CLK: $613

• SLK: $624

• SL: $810

• CL: $896





The settlement notes that actual payment is likely to be less than proposed amounts for specific models because of payments for fees, expenses, incentive awards, administration and other fees, according to the court.

At a hearing March 11, the court will decide whether to give final approval to the settlement, allocation plan and payment of attorney fees and expenses.

Mercedes-Benz fought the class action for more than a year after all of the 23 individual dealerships had settled. Six dealers settled in September 2003 and 17 in September 2006. Mercedes-Benz USA decided to settle after the arrival of CEO Ernst Lieb, who said he wanted to end the costly dispute.

One dealership involved in the class action, Beifus Motors Inc. in South Orange, N.J., was not part of the settlement because it went out of business in 1997.

Mercedes-Benz could not say how many owners would get payments. All claims by owners have to be postmarked by April 25.

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