In re Capacitors Antitrust Litigation

*1058 ORDER ON MOTIONS TO DISMISS

Re: Dkt. Nos. 474, 475, 479, 480

Direct and indirect purchasers in these consolidated antitrust -class actions allege price-fixing conspiracies in the capacitor market. The direct purchaser plaintiffs (“DPPs”) allege that defendant manufacturers in Japan, Taiwan, Germany and the United States have participated in a single overarching conspiracy since 2003 to artificially raise prices and suppress price competition for aluminum, tantalum and film capacitors. In a separate complaint, the indirect purchaser plaintiffs (“IPPs”) allege two conspiracies running over different times for the same products. The defendants are largely the same in the DPP and IPP cases, and include overseas parent companies and United States subsidiaries. Defendants move to dismiss the DPP complaint mainly for failing to state a plausible price-fixing claim. They concede the plausibility of the antitrust claim in the IPP complaint, but challenge it on standing and state law grounds.

The Court denies the motions for the most part. The DPP complaint provides enough factual allegations to state a price-fixing claim. The IPP complaint also survives defendants’ primary…