CANADA: Ongoing court cases related to the 2009 refrigeration compressor price fixing investigations have seen the settlement of the first class action in Canada.
The Supreme Court in British Columbia has approved a settlement with defendants ACC USA LLC and ACC SpA agreeing to pay $50,000 (£32,000) and costs of up to $50,000.

The settlement is the first in a number of class actions in the US and Canada which followed fines by competition authorities in a number of countries, culminating in a massive Euro161m fine for the conspirators from the European Commission at the end of 2011.

The price-fixing conspiracy came to light in February 2009 following raids by anti-trust authorities on a number of refrigeration compressor manufacturers' offices across Europe, the US and Brazil in February 2009.

The British Columbia class action began in 2010 on behalf of residents that purchased cooling compressors and other products manufactured by the defendants Tecumseh, Danfoss, ACC, Panasonic, Embraco and Whirlpool. According to the plaintiff, the defendants allegedly fixed refrigeration compressor prices or allocated markets and customers in Canada.

A case brought by the Canadian Competition Bureau saw Embraco North America Inc and Panasonic fined $1.5m (£1m) each in 2010 for their participation in the cartel.