Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP Files Class Action Lawsuit on Behalf of Telescope Consumers Against Leading Telescope Suppliers for Price-Fixing, Market Allocation, And Other Anticompetitive Conduct

Plaintiffs Allege Telescope Suppliers Have Engaged in a Conspiracy Since 2005

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of telescope consumers, Sigurd Murphy and Keith Uehara, in the United States against the leading telescope suppliers, Celestron Acquisition, LLC, Nantong Schmidt Opto-Electrical Technology Co., Ltd., Olivon Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Olivon USA, LLC, Suzhou Synta Optical Technology Co., Ltd., SW Technology Corp., Synta Canada International Enterprises Ltd., Synta Technology Corp. of Taiwan (together, “Synta”), and Ningbo Sunny Electronic Co. Ltd. (“Sunny”) for engaging in a conspiracy to unlawfully fix prices, allocate the market for products and customers, and unlawful monopolistic conduct in the United States for consumer telescopes. These telescope suppliers manufacture and sell telescopes branded Celestron, Meade, Sky-Watcher, and Synta, among others.

In November 2016, a California-based distributor and seller of telescopes, Orion Technologies, Inc. (“Orion”) filed a lawsuit against Sunny and its affiliates, identifying their primary competitor, Synta, for conspiring to “divide the market, fix prices, [and] throttle competition” in violation of the Sherman, Clayton, and California Cartwright Acts, as well as California’s unfair competition law. See Optronic Techs., Inc. v. Ningbo Sunny Electronic Co., Ltd. et al., No. 5:16-cv-06370-EJD (N.D. Cal.) (“Orion Litigation”). Following a six-week jury trial, the jury delivered a verdict in favor of Orion in December 2019, awarding Orion $16.8 million in single damages, which was trebled to $50.4 million.

Plaintiffs Murphy and Uehara allege that as a direct result of the anticompetitive and unlawful conduct revealed in the Orion Litigation, consumers paid artificially inflated prices for telescopes during the period from and including January 1, 2005 through August 31, 2019 (“Class Period”) and have thereby suffered antitrust injury.

According to Adam Zapala, a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, one of the attorneys for Sigurd Murphy, Keith Uehara, and the consumer classes,

“Plaintiffs claim that telescope suppliers have illegally colluded to divvy up the U.S. telescope market, buy out competitor Meade, box out other competitors, and raise prices for consumers. Through this lawsuit, Plaintiffs seek to recover the illegal overcharges consumers paid for telescopes as a result of this long-running conspiracy.”

If you purchased a telescope for your own use and not for resale during the period from and including January 1, 2005 through August 31, 2019, please contact us for more information.

About Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, based in the San Francisco Peninsula for over a half-century, engages exclusively in litigation and trials. The firm’s dedication to prosecuting or defending socially just actions has earned it a national reputation. With additional offices in Los Angeles and New York, the core of CPM is its people and their dedication to principles of law, their work ethic, and their commitment to justice. www.cpmlegal.com