Auto Repair Shop Antitrust Actions May Be Consolidated Into Multidistrict Litigation

Over the course of the last several months, auto body repair shops in five states (Florida, Mississippi, Indiana, Utah and Tennessee) filed antitrust actions against a collection of auto insurers, alleging that the insurers' direct repair programs violate the antitrust laws. In each case, the plaintiffs alleged that the manner in which the insurers set reimbursement rates for covered repairs artificially depressed the compensation plaintiffs received for their services, and that the insurers also "steered" insureds away from plaintiffs' businesses to those shops that are participants in the insurers' direct repair programs.

With all of the cases having been filed by the same Jackson, Mississippi attorney, it was not particularly surprising that, in late May, plaintiffs filed a motion with the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation seeking to have the cases consolidated and transferred to the Southern District of Mississippi. In support of the request, the