For more information contact:
Alfred Frawley
afrawley@preti.com

Preti Flaherty serves as Private Plaintiffs Liaison counsel in complex Federal Antitrust Case

Preti Flaherty is serving as Private Plaintiffs Liaison counsel in a complex Federal Antitrust case which, under the MultiDistrict Litigation Panel Rules, is pending before Judge D. Brock Hornby in Federal Court in Portland. Numerous State Attorneys’ General, as well as Private Plaintiff Class Action representatives, filed over 50 lawsuits around the United States alleging that the Defendant Music Distributors and some large retailers conspired to illegally raise the prices of certain prerecorded Music Products by implementing Minimum Advertised Price policies, in violation of state and federal laws. The Defendants, in agreeing to the proposed settlement of the lawsuit, have denied all allegations of wrongdoing. The Defendants have agreed to pay a combination of cash and non-cash consideration to settle the lawsuit. Defendants' combined cash payments total $67,375,000. In addition, Defendants will provide $75,700,000 worth of prerecorded music compact discs. The compact discs will be distributed to not- for-profit, charitable, governmental or public entities to be used for music-related purposes or programs. Currently consumers may file claims under the settlement in a number of ways, including filing a claim at www.musiccdsettlement.com.  The court has granted preliminary approval of the settlement and will consider final approval in May 2003.