Daimler Truck is threatened with a payment of damages because of a price cartel in the sale of garbage trucks to the Lower Saxony district of Northeim. According to a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg on Monday, the garbage trucks were affected by unlawful collusion (Case C-588/20). According to the district, damage was caused when the vehicles were purchased as a result of the price agreements.
The background to the action for damages is a decision by the EU Commission from July 2016, in which the then Daimler AG and other truck manufacturers were fined a total of more than three billion euros for price fixing. According to the court, the former decision also extends to price agreements for special vehicles such as garbage trucks, fire engines and construction site vehicles.
The district of Northeim then sued Daimler for damages. The case is now returning to the Hanover Regional Court. According to press reports, the court has dozens of lawsuits pending from municipalities. Daimler Truck, Daimler’s commercial vehicle division, was spun off from the Daimler Group at the end of 2021.
“Of course we accept the decision of the European Court of Justice,” said a spokesman for Daimler Trucks. However, against the background of the EU Commission decision made in 2016, Daimler Truck cannot understand the ECJ’s interpretation of special vehicles. “We are still convinced that our customers have not suffered any damage.”