B.W.I. Custom Kitchen v. Owens-Illinois, Inc.

Plaintiff B.W.I. Custom Kitchen, an indirect purchaser of glass containers, brought a class action against numerous corporate defendants alleging they had engaged in a conspiracy to set noncompetitive prices for glass containers in violation of California’s antitrust statute, the Cartwright Act (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 16700 et seq.) and the unfair competition statutes. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.) Plaintiff sought certification of a class comprised of California businesses which purchased glass containers indirectly from defendant manufacturers and paid inflated prices for such containers due to defendants’ alleged price-fixing conspiracy. The trial court refused to certify the class, holding that common questions of law and fact did not predominate over questions affecting only individual class members. We reverse.

Plaintiff B.W.I. Custom Kitchen, a sole proprietorship of Betty W. Imes, is in the business of packaging food products. The named defendants are corporations engaged in manufacturing glass containers. The first amended complaint alleges that defendants “engaged in a continuing conspiracy ... to fix, raise, maintain and stabilize the prices and terms and…