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For years, truck manufacturers have been exchanging prices – that much is clear. On the other hand, possible damages for customers will probably be argued for for years to come. A new demand has now been received in Stuttgart.
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Stuttgart – Daimler is confronted with further claims for damages amounting to millions due to its involvement in the so-called truck cartel. The Elvis haulage association wants to win around 160 million euros including interest at the Stuttgart Regional Court, as lawyer Moritz Lorenz from the Berlin law firm Arnecke Sibeth Dabelstein, who represents Elvis, told the German Press Agency. The lawsuit was originally filed at the end of 2019, but the specific amount was only recently quantified retrospectively. The court confirmed receipt. Daimler considers the demands to be unfounded.
In 2016, the EU Commission imposed cartel fines totaling almost three billion euros against Daimler, Iveco, DAF and Volvo / Renault because they had exchanged price lists for years. As a key witness, MAN didn’t have to pay anything. Scania later received a fine of around 900 million euros. However, the Commission left open the question of whether the buyers of the trucks suffered any damage. And so numerous proceedings have been going on in German courts for several years.
Already the second lawsuit against Daimler
It is also the second lawsuit against Daimler for the European Cargo Association of International Freight Forwarders (Elvis). In 2017 Elvis had already made claims for damages amounting to around 176 million euros. This has not yet been negotiated. At that time, it was about the time between 1997 and 2011 when the cartel existed. The current lawsuit (Ref. 30 O 435/19) is aimed at the time after the discovery and, according to the court, also includes truck purchases made in Switzerland – in total, more than 10,000 vehicles are involved. According to the court, the files fill more than 50 moving boxes.
Daimler said they would carefully examine the amendment to the lawsuit and take a firm stand against unjustified claims. “We are still convinced that our customers have not suffered any damage,” said a spokesman. Formally, the lawsuit is directed against Daimler. The group is also used as a proxy for other manufacturers.
The plaintiff in both Elvis cases is Themis Schaden GmbH, a subsidiary of the association founded specifically for this purpose, to which the plaintiffs have assigned their claims. The Munich Regional Court considered a similar construct in another case to be inadmissible last year – and dismissed by far the largest claim for damages against the truck cartel for 867 million euros. The plaintiffs have appealed against this.
Daimler sees itself confirmed by the BGH judgment
It is still unclear whether the Stuttgart Regional Court shares the legal opinion of the Munich colleagues, said Elvis lawyer Lorenz. As a precaution, however, they have adjusted their own assignment agreements with Themis in order to remove the criticized points.
Last autumn, the Karlsruhe judges referred the first case, which made it to the Federal Court of Justice, back to the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court – mainly because they did not see the EU Commission’s findings sufficiently appreciated.
Daimler sees its view confirmed by the BGH ruling that every plaintiff must prove specific damage in each individual case. “This is very time-consuming and the customer will not succeed in the end either,” said the spokesman.
According to Elvis, Daimler refused to negotiate settlements. The group itself did not want to comment.
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