Case Description
34 Plaintiff States (one state later dismissed their case) filed suit against a number of DRAM manufacturers who had been indicted and admitted guilt in connection with a US DOJ cartel investigation. In or around 1998, the Defendant DRAM manufacturers discussed and coordinated the prices that they charged to OEMs, and to their other customers. During a roughly four-year period, there were frequent pricing communications among the conspiring manufacturers, exchanges that intensified in the days immediately preceding the dates on which they submitted bids to supply DRAM to the original equipment manufacturers, their largest and most important customers. US DOJ began an investigation in 2002, and guilty pleas have been entered by most of the defendants, with criminal fines totalling $730 million. The states included claims on behalf of direct and indirect purchasers, as well as claims that had been assigned to the state by contractors. A number of state law claims on behalf of indirect purchasers were dismissed. Defendants Samsung and Winbond reached settlement for $113 million in 2007. Defendants will pay $173 million over two years, plus interest. The agreement also requires the companies to refrain from illegal price-fixing and to conduct employee-compliance training. The settlement also resolves a state suit brought by California on behalf of its municipalities and government entities.
