El Al sued for price fixing
For the first time in Israel, an antitrust organization
has filed a NIS 613 million lawsuit against El Al Israel Airlines Ltd., British Airways plc, Lufthansa AG, and Swiss International
Air Lines AG with the Central District Court, and asked it to recognize the
lawsuit as a class action suit.
Hatzlaha Consumer Movement for Promoting a Fair
Social Economy accuses the airlines of price fixing on cargo. Foreign antitrust
agencies uncovered the scheme in February 2006.
Hatzlaha contends that the airlines illegally fixed
prices by adding charges, such as extra fuel and security fees, to the basic
price for cargo consignments. The price fixing took place in 2000-06, at least,
and included meetings by executives from the airlines which were party to the
cartel.
Since the scheme was discovered, the participating
airlines have been in court proceedings in various countries, but to date no
claim has been filed in Israel in the matter. Hatzlaha filed the lawsuit just
before the statute of limitations would come into effect.
Hatzlaha appended to the statement of claim an economic
opinion by Hanan Sharon, which states that the respondents' illegal acts caused
the claimants serious damage.
Hatzlaha board member Ben-Zion Tzitrin said, "We
attach great importance to the taking of active measures to protect victims and
promote private citizen enforcement in the areas of antitrust and
competition."
Hatzlaha legal counsel Ad. Elad Man said, "This
appears to be a clear case which requires suitable civil enforcement action on
the basis of appropriate professional knowledge and analysis in areas where
there is deprivation and a lack of clear class-action procedures due to various
barriers."
In September, 2012 Hatzaha was the first organization to
secure recognition of a class action suit by the Israel Securities Authority in
a securities and capital market case.
Comments
Post a Comment