Helicopter Transfer Price Fixing Claim Dismissed

In Superior Offshore International Inc. v. Bristow Group Inc., the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the plaintiff’s price fixing claims because of a lack of direct evidence of a conspiracy.  The case had been related to a DOJ investigation of the off-shore helicopter transport industry, which is used to transport workers to oil rigs.   But in 2010, the DOJ closed that investigation without taking action.  The plaintiff alleged that the defendants, which held about 90% of the market, had jointly raised prices by 30% in 2001 and had an inter-related business culture in which employees often moved from company to company.  The court found that this evidence was insufficient to permit a reasonable inference of conspiracy.  The testimony of an employee witness that a conspiracy had occurred was also held insufficient because he significantly contradicted parts of his original statement in deposition.

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