Maurice Blackburn

The action

Maurice Blackburn is conducting a price fixing class action in the Federal Court of Australia against seven major international airlines including Qantas, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand, JAL and British Airways in relation to the provision of international air freight services since 1 January 2000. The class action seeks damages and other relief on behalf of purchasers of air freight services for losses suffered as a result of the alleged cartel conduct by the airlines.

This class action alleges contraventions of the price fixing provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) and relates to fuel and security surcharges imposed by the airlines on international air freight services. It is claimed that the surcharges were used by the airlines to increase prices and did not reflect the external costs for providing international air freight services.

Investigations by the ACCC and competition regulators around the world are continuing. The total criminal fines imposed by the United States Department of Justice as a result of its investigation into the air cargo cartel to date are more than US$1.27 billion. On 8 May 2008, US-based Qantas executive Bruce McCaffrey was sentenced to six months jail and a fine of US$20,000 for his involvement in this cartel.  On 28 July 2008, Timothy Pfeil, the former highest-ranking cargo executive in the United States for SAS Cargo Group, a Scandinavian-based airline, agreed to plead guilty and serve six months in jail for participating in the conspiracy to fix prices of air cargo.

In early 2006, class actions were commenced in the US and Canada alleging cartel arrangements involving international air freight services against various airlines. In September 2006, Lufthansa agreed with representatives of the plaintiffs to pay US$85m in settlement of the class actions in the US, and US$5.3m in settlement of the class actions in Canada. Australian residents that paid for freight within, to or from the US or Canada during the relevant period are likely to be entitled to participate in these settlements.

The Australian class action was issued on 11 January 2007.

Who are the group members in this Maurice Blackburn class action?

Group members are all those persons currently resident in Australia who, during the period 1 January 2000 to 11 January 2007, paid more than AUD$20,000 for the carriage of goods to or from Australia by air. It does not matter from which airline or freight forwarder you purchased the air cargo services.

What you can do

If you fit the above description, you may register your interest with us.  We will contact you upon receiving your completed registration of interest form to invite you to retain us as your lawyers with respect to your individual claim.  The registration of your interest with us does not obligate you to pay any legal costs.

If you are unsure whether you are a group member in the class action or if you have any questions about the class action, please contact Simon Weeks or Erdem Ozyurek at Maurice Blackburn on (03) 9605 2840.