September Antitrust Bulletin

D.C. Circuit Reverses Certification of Class Following SCOTUS Decision

On Aug. 9, in In re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1869, No. 12-7085, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 16500 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 9, 2013), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia applied the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Comcast v. Behrend to reverse a district court decision certifying a class of 30,000 direct purchasers of rail shipping services, holding that proof of injury on a classwide basis was a prerequisite to certification. Plaintiffs alleged that several major railroad freight companies conspired to fix, raise, maintain or stabilize fuel surcharges on shipping from mid-2003 until 2008.