Top Defense Results: In Re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation

Last summer, electronics companies Toshiba Corp. and HannStar Display Corp. took the road less traveled in a set of lawsuits that accused them and others of conspiring to fix the prices of flat-panel displays.

While many defendants settled for more than $1 billion in parallel actions, Toshiba and HannStar took their case to a jury in July, seeking to knock out Best Buy Co.'s claim that it was owed about $770 million.

Toshiba, represented by a team of lawyers with White & Case LLP, claimed it committed no wrongdoing.

HannStar, represented by Redwood Shores-based lawyer Robert E. Freitas, said it was part of the conspiracy, but it disputed the amount of damages that Best Buy sought. In Re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation, MD07-1827 (N.D. Cal., filed April 20, 2007).

"The first thing I told the jury pool is [HannStar] had broken the law. There was no question of denying liability," said Freitas, a partner with Freitas Tseng & Kaufman LLP.

Instead, Freitas focused his argument on whether Best Buy's attorneys with Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP could reliably say their client was owed such a high dollar figure.

He looked at two possible flaws in Best Buy's claims. The first was that an expert wrongly associated the price of LCD panels with microprocessors that some of screens used, Freitas said. The second was that the damage suffered by Best Buy had been passed onto its customers, or indirect purchasers who paid inflated prices for the screens inside finished products such as laptops and cell phones.

A jury agreed with Freitas and awarded Best Buy no money on its indirect purchaser claims. HannStar was ordered to pay $7.5 million on the remaining direct purchaser claims, but that figure was reduced to zero because of settlements in parallel cases.

Toshiba lawyer Christopher M. Curran defeated all claims against his client. Curran declined to comment, but in past interviews with the Daily Journal, he said evidence against Toshiba was insufficent for plaintiffs to win a case.

- SAUL SUGARMAN

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