Price Fixing Class Action MDL Transferred to Colorado, State’s First in More Than 15 Years

Lawsuit accuses Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bass Pro Shops, Archery Trade Association and others of conspiring to inflate prices on archery products

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred major antitrust class action lawsuits accusing Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bass Pro Shops, the Archery Trade Association and others of price fixing archery products to Colorado.

The case will be the first multidistrict litigation, or MDL, in Colorado in more than 15 years. The panel decision consolidates nearly 20 federal lawsuits against the archery industry filed across the country.

Olson Grimsley partner Eric Olson presented argument to the panel last month urging them to consolidate the cases in Colorado.

Read the panel order.

According to the lawsuit filed in August, several major archery companies conspired to inflate prices in a long-running scheme. The complaint, brought on behalf of a nationwide class of consumers, alleges that a group of manufacturers, retailers and a trade association worked together to fix and raise prices on archery products, forcing consumers to pay more.

The complaint names the Archery Trade Association, manufacturers, retailers including Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and software companies TrackStreet Inc. and NeuIntel LLC.

According to the lawsuit, as early as January 1, 2014, the defendants used the trade association as a central hub to coordinate and implement price-fixing policies. These policies, which set a price floor for products, were allegedly used to suppress competition and drive up prices for consumers. The complaints claim that the software companies monitored and enforced these price-fixing policies.

“For more than a decade, the complaint alleges these companies have been conspiring against their own customers,” said Olson Grimsley partner Eric Olson, attorney for the plaintiffs. “We explain that they created a market with inflated prices on archery products. We look forward to holding these companies accountable for the injuries they have caused consumers.”

The lawsuit asserts that these actions violated U.S. antitrust law and seeks treble damages as well as an injunction to prevent the defendants from continuing their anti-competitive behavior.

The plaintiffs are represented by Olson Grimsley attorneys Eric Olson, Sean Grimsley, and Kenzo Kawanabe along with co-counsel Kimberly Justice and Matthew Ruan at Freed Kanner.

The JPML case is In re Archery Products Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 3160.

About Olson Grimsley

Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC is a national law firm headquartered in Denver, with the mission of holding the powerful to account. Before founding the firm, the team of talented litigators handled some of the country’s most significant civil rights, antitrust, mass tort, consumer, intellectual property and environmental cases in courthouses from California to New York, and from rural Arkansas to the U.S. Supreme Court. They are now focusing their expertise on advocating for clients in the most consequential trials and appeals nationwide. More information at olsongrimsley.com.