In re Automotive Refinishing Paint Antitrust Litigation

229 F.R.D. 482, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22353
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 29, 2005
DocketMDL No. 1426
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 229 F.R.D. 482 (In re Automotive Refinishing Paint Antitrust Litigation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Automotive Refinishing Paint Antitrust Litigation, 229 F.R.D. 482, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22353 (E.D. Pa. 2005).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

SURRICK, District Judge.

Presently before the Court is Plaintiffs’1 Motion to Compel the European Council of the Paint, Printing Ink and Artists’ Colours Industry (“CEPE”) to Respond to Plaintiffs’ Request for Production of Documents and Memorandum in Support. (Doc. No. 143.) [484]*484For the following reasons, Plaintiffs’ Motion ■ will be granted in part and denied in part.2

1. BACKGROUND

A. Underlying Action

In this antitrust class action, Plaintiffs allege that from January 1, 1993, to December 31, 2000 (the “Class Period”), various domestic and foreign manufacturers of automotive refinishing paint “eonspir[ed] to fix, raise, maintain or stabilize prices for automotive refinishing paint in the United States” in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1. (Doc. No. 3 111.) The Defendants are E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company and DuPont Performance Coatings, Inc. (“DuPont”); BASF Aktiengesellschaft, BASF Coatings AG, and BASF Corp. (“BASF”); PPG Industries, Inc. (“PPG”); Sherwin-Williams Co. and Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes Corp. (“SherwinWilliams”); and Akzo Nobel Car Refinishes and Akzo Nobel Coatings, Inc. (“Akzo”).3 Plaintiffs seek damages, injunctive relief, and attorney’s fees pursuant to Sections 4 and 16 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 15, 26.

B. CEPE

CEPE is an international non-profit trade association headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, and organized under Belgian law. (Doc. No. 148 Ex. 1 (“Schoder Dec!.”) 111.) It represents and promotes the interests of approximately 1100 paint, 150 printing ink, and 20 artists’ color companies. (Doc. No. 143 Exs. A, B.) Among its members are four of Defendants’ European affiliates or subsidiaries, Akzo Nobel NV, BASF Coatings AG, DuPont Performance Coatings, and PPG Industries International, Inc. CEPE, Company Members, at http://www.cepe.org/ homepage (last visited June 25, 2005). CEPE’s membership also includes the national trade associations for the paint and printing ink industries in various European countries. (Schoder Decl. H 4.) CEPE does not have a legal affiliation with any entity located solely in the United States, nor does it have any corporations organized under the laws of any state of the United States as a member. (Id. H 5.) CEPE does not have any property, investments, bank accounts, records, or employees located in the United States, nor does it have a registered agent in the United States. (Id. 113.)

CEPE is a member of the International Paint and Printing Ink Council (“IPPIC”), an international non-governmental organization comprised of regional paint and printing ink associations representing Asia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. (Id. If 6.) CEPE’s former President is the Chairman of IPPIC. (Id.) The National Paint and Coatings Association, Inc. (“NPCA”), a non-profit trade association that represents paint and coating manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors located in the United States, is also a member of IP-PIC. (Doc. No. 143 Ex. J.)

In 2000, NPCA and CEPE jointly established a Worldwide Vehicle Refinishing Product-Oriented Group (“Worldwide P-O.G.”) for the stated purpose of “provid[ing] for cooperative sharing of information concerning industry trends, product developments, ... safety, ... environmental compliance information!;,] and coordination of regulator and legislative activities” in the global market for automotive refinishing paint. (Id. Ex. O at 1; see also Doc. No. 151 Ex. 35.) Representatives of CEPE, NPCA, Akzo Nobel, BASF, DuPont, PPG, and SherwinWilliams have participated in the Worldwide P-O.G. (Id. Exs. N, R, V, AA; Doc. No. 151 Ex. 4.) Participants in the Worldwide P-O.G. agreed to the exchange of sales volume data on a quarterly basis for the global market for automotive refinishing paint. See, e.g., Doc. No. 151 Ex. 4 at SW2500039 (“To have a better understanding of the market, it was agreed that CEPE, in addition to the existing statistics, will also assess the size of the [485]*485whole market in volume and value.”); Ex. 34 at SW2200505 (“[T]here is the need for a Worldwide Refinish POG to address matters, such as collecting worldwide statistical information for the industry ....”). To facilitate the exchange of this information, representatives of CEPE and Defendants agreed to hire Herman-Josef Drexler as a Vehicle Refinish Coordinator and share the costs of his salary. (Doc. No. 151 Ex. 4 at SW250038-SW250039, Ex. 6 at 1-2, Ex. 9 at SW003056047-SW003056048.) This data, which was coordinated by Drexler and distributed to members of the Worldwide PO.G. by Jean Sehoder, CEPE’s Secretary General, contained information regarding the aggregate sales volume of Defendants’ automotive refinishing products by geographic region. (Doe. No. 143 Ex. M; Doe. No. 151 Exs. 2, 14, 16, 18, 23, 31.) The exchange of information continued at least through August, 2001. (Doc. Nos. 143 Ex. M, 151 Ex. 31.)

C. Subpoena and Motion to Compel

On September 9, 2003, Plaintiffs served Jean Sehoder, CEPE’s Secretary General, with a subpoena duces tecum and request for production of documents while he was attending a meeting of the IPPIC’s Coating Care®/Industry Stewardship Coordinating Committee in Washington, D.C. (Sehoder Decl. HH1, 7; Doc. No. 143 at 2-3.) The subpoena and document request seek the production of all records and documents in CEPE’s possession regarding the following subjects: (1) CEPE’s organizational structure; (2) Defendants’ (or its corporate affiliates’) membership in CEPE; (3) CEPE’s meetings or communications with Defendants; (4) domestic, foreign, or international governmental investigations, claims, and/or litigation pertaining to Defendants’ alleged anticompetitive activities; and (5) information pertaining to the prices of automotive refinishing paint, Defendants’ market shares in the United States, and communication between Defendants about these subjects. (Doc. No. 143 Ex. D.)

CEPE, acting through counsel, objected to the subpoena and refused to produce the requested documents. (Id. Ex. E.) On December 14, 2004, Plaintiffs filed a Motion to Compel production of the documents specified in the,subpoena. On February 10, 2005, after the Motion and supporting documents were served,4 CEPE filed an objection to the production of the requested documents. (Doc. No. 148). In its opposition, CEPE asserts that the subpoena should not be enforced because: (1) this Court lacks personal jurisdiction over CEPE; (2) service of the subpoena violates Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45; (3) the subpoena requests are unduly burdensome; and (4) to the extent that CEPE is subject to discovery, Plaintiffs are required to invoke the procedures of the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters (“Hague Convention”), 23 U.S.T. 2555 (1970), to conduct international discovery. Plaintiffs filed a reply on March 7, 2005. (Doc. No. 151.)

II. APPLICABLE LAW

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229 F.R.D. 482, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-automotive-refinishing-paint-antitrust-litigation-paed-2005.