In re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litig. (D.D.C. May 12, 2021)
Key Insight: District court rejected, in part, plaintiffs’ request for new discovery of rail-freight transaction data from defendants, the four largest railroads operating in the Unites States. Plaintiffs alleged defendants engaged in a price-fixing conspiracy to increase the price of rail-freight transport from 2003 to 2008. The court granted the request to produce 2009 data as proportional because defendants already had access to the data. The court denied the request for 2010-2012 data, finding it was not proportional at that stage in the litigation. It was not connected to the central issue in the case as to whether defendants engaged in a price-fixing conspiracy, even though it might be relevant to certain plaintiffs’ calculation of full damages.
Nature of Case: Antitrust
Electronic Data Involved: Transaction Data