Parking Heaters Antitrust Litigation

A Court authorized notice about the proposed Settlements of a class action lawsuit known as In re: Parking Heaters Antitrust Litigation, No. 1:15-MC-0940 (DLI) (JO), in the United States District Court Eastern District of New York, and about all of the options before the Court decides whether to give final approval to the Settlements. The Notice explains the lawsuit, the Settlements, and affected legal rights.

Chief Judge Dora Lizette Irizarry of the United States District Court Eastern District of New York is overseeing this case. The people who sued are called the “Plaintiffs.” Webasto Products North America, Inc., Webasto Thermo & Comfort North America, Inc. and Webasto Thermo & Comfort SE (collectively, “Webasto”) and Eberspaecher Climate Control Systems GmbH & Co. KG, Espar, Inc., and Espar Products Inc. (collectively, “Espar”) are the “Defendants.”

The lawsuit alleges that Webasto and Espar participated in an unlawful conspiracy to raise, fix, maintain, and/or stabilize the price of aftermarket Parking Heaters at artificially high levels in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. § 1). Webasto and Espar have each agreed to settle the claims in the case.

The Plaintiffs’ Class Action Complaint and Jury Demand, both Settlement Agreements, and other case-related documents are posted here. The Settlements resolve the lawsuit with both Webasto and Espar. The Court has not decided who is right.

Under the Settlements, “Parking Heaters” are defined as “parking heaters for commercial vehicles sold in the aftermarket, including the heaters themselves, accessories sold for use with the heaters, and parking heater kits containing heaters and selected accessories.” Parking Heaters produce heat without the need to run a vehicle’s engine or idling. They include two primary types: (1) air heaters, which work by heating interior or outside air drawn into the heater unit, and (2) water or “coolant” heaters, which are integrated into the engine coolant circuit and heat the engine as well as the interior compartment.

In a class action, one or more people here called “Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs” sue on behalf of themselves and other people with similar claims. Together, all the people with similar claims (except those who exclude themselves) are members of a “Settlement Class.” The Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs here are Triple Cities Acquisition LLC d/b/a Cook Brothers Truck Parts, National Trucking Financial Reclamation Services, TrailerCraft Inc., and Myers Equipment Corporation.

The Court has not decided in favor of the Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs, Webasto, or Espar. Instead, the Parties have agreed to the Settlements. By agreeing to the Settlements, the Parties avoid the costs and uncertainty of a trial, and if the Settlements are approved by the Court, Settlement Class Members will receive the benefits described in this notice. The proposed Settlements do not mean that any law was broken or that either Webasto or Espar did anything wrong. Both Webasto and Espar deny all legal claims in this case. Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs and their lawyers think the proposed Settlements are best for everyone who is affected.

The Settlements include all persons or entities (but excluding federal and state government entities and Defendants, their officers, directors, and employees, as well as Defendants’ parents, predecessors, successors, subsidiaries, affiliates) that purchased aftermarket Parking Heaters in the United States, its territories or possessions, directly from any Defendant (Webasto or Espar), or from any of their parents, predecessors, successors, subsidiaries, or affiliates, at any time during the period from and including October 1, 2007 up to and including December 31, 2012.

If you were mailed a Notice and were assigned a unique ID number, then Defendants’ records show that you are member of the Settlement Class under at least one of the Settlements and were an eligible Settlement Class Member.

The Webasto Settlement establishes a $7 million Settlement Fund and the Espar Settlement establishes an $8 million Settlement Fund. Each Settlement may be reduced by up to 35% depending on certain developments. The Webasto Settlement may be reduced by up to 35%, depending on the number of potential Settlement Class Members who opt out of the Webasto Settlement. In no event shall the Webasto Settlement be less than $4.55 million. The Espar Settlement may be reduced by up to 35%, depending on the number of potential Settlement Class Members Espar reached a private settlement with prior to September 20, 2017. In no event shall the Espar Settlement be less than $5.2 million.

Payments were made to eligible Class Members automatically, after payment of expenses of notice and administration of the Settlement, taxes and tax expenses, and attorneys’ fees, costs, expenses, and interest. Settlement payment amounts to eligible Class Members were calculated based on available records of Parking Heater sales provided by Webasto and Espar.

Class Members did not need to file a claim to receive a payment. To receive funds from the secondary distribution, you must have presented your first check for payment.

Settlement Class members who already settled individually with Espar or Webasto were still entitled to a share of the Settlement with the defendant with whom they did not settle (even if they did not purchase any Parking Heaters from that defendant), and Settlement Class members who settled with Espar individually may have also been entitled to receive a share in the Espar Settlement amount depending on the terms of their individual Settlement with Espar.

To update your address, please submit a change of address request in writing to:

Parking Heaters Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 3560
Portland, OR 97208-3560

Your request must include:

• Your full name;
• Your old address;
• Your new address;
• Your signature.

Each Class Member’s estimated payment amount will be calculated based on available Parking Heater sales records provided by Webasto and Espar. To contact the Settlement Administrator about your payment amount, you must send a letter by mail to:

Parking Heaters Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 3560
Portland, OR 97208-3560

Your letter and supporting documentation must include:

• Your full name;
• Your address;
• Your phone number; and
• A statement explaining the reason(s) you are contacting the Settlement Administrator.

A deadline to dispute payment amounts has not yet been determined. Please check back for updates.

Initial payments were issued in 2020. Secondary payments will issue in May 2022.

The deadline to exclude yourself was December 21, 2018.

No. Unless you excluded yourself, you gave up any right you might have to sue Webasto and/or Espar for the legal claims that the Settlements resolve. You must have excluded yourself in order to try to continue a separate lawsuit against Webasto and/or Espar.

Unless you excluded yourself from the Settlements, you cannot sue or be part of any other lawsuit against Webasto or Espar about the issues in this case, including any existing litigation, arbitration, or proceeding. Unless you excluded yourself, all of the decisions and judgments by the Court will bind you. If you remained in the Settlement Classes, you released Webasto and Espar from all of the claims described and identified in Paragraph 1(bb) of the Settlement Agreements.

The Settlement Agreements are both available here. The Settlement Agreements each provide more detail regarding the releases and describe the released claims with specific descriptions in necessary, accurate legal terminology, so read them carefully. You can talk to the law firms representing the Class listed below in FAQ 18 for free, or you can, at your own expense, talk to your own lawyer if you have any questions about the released claims or what they mean.

No. You will not get a payment from the Settlement Fund if you excluded yourself from the Settlement.

The Court has appointed the following law firms as “Co-Lead Counsel” to represent all members of the Settlement Class: Hausfeld, LLP and Roberts Law Firm, P.A. You will not be charged for these lawyers.

Co-Lead Counsel were awarded $7,316,667 in attorneys’ fees and $155,275.52 in costs by the Court.

The deadline to file your objection with the Court and mail copies to Co-Lead Counsel and counsel for Webasto and Espar was December 1, 2018.

Objecting is simply telling the Court that you do not like something about one or both of the Settlements. The deadline to exclude and object has passed.

The Court has approved the Settlements and determined that they were fair, reasonable, and adequate.

The hearing date has passed.

The hearing date has passed.

If you are a Class Member or are otherwise entitled to a payment under the Settlements and did nothing, you automatically received payment.

For a complete, definitive statement of the Settlement terms, refer to the Settlement Agreements here. You may also write with questions to the Settlement Administrator at Parking Heaters Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 3560, Portland, OR 97208-3560.