Energizer and Walmart Seek Dismissal of Class Action Antitrust Lawsuit Over Battery Price Conspiracy

Energizer and Walmart Seek Dismissal of Class Action Antitrust Lawsuit Over Battery Price Conspiracy

Energizer and Walmart have filed before the U.S. District, Northern District of California, Oakland Divison, a motion to dismiss three proposed class actions that accuse them of colluding to artificially inflate wholesale and retail prices of disposable batteries in violation of U.S. antitrust law.

The cases were initially filed in April and are pending before the U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr.

The defense lawyers for the two companies argued that the plaintiffs had failed to provide factual evidence to back up their claims of an unlawful agreement to fix battery prices.

The lawsuits claimed that Energizer, under pressure from Walmart, agreed to increase the wholesale prices it charged to other customers, allowing Walmart to offer lower retail prices.

Twelve individual consumers in states including California, Florida, New York and Illinois who bought batteries from various retailers filed one of the lawsuits.

One of the plaintiffs is a retailer namely, Portable Power, which asserted it bought batteries directly from Energizer. The third complaint was filed by battery purchasers at Walmart.

Energizer and Walmart’s defence lawyers contended that the alleged conduct is consistent with rational business behaviour and does not support the claim of a conspiracy. They further submitted that there was no legal prohibition for a manufacturer like Energizer to have an exclusive contract with one retailer and terminate other distributors.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers pointed out that Walmart was Energizer’s largest customer and that the two companies devised a scheme to maintain higher-than-competitive prices for Energizer products.

According to them, an internal team was set up by Energizer to ensure Walmart’s battery prices were lower than competitors’, and warned retailers that attempted to undersell Walmart to match or exceed their prices.

The class actions seek compensatory and triple damages, as well as a court order compelling Walmart and Energizer to take steps to dissipate the continuing effects of their prior unlawful conduct.