On February 24, a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Michigan district court's January 2019 decision that KYB Corp. can't force a suit accusing it of conspiring with other auto parts manufacturres to fix prices on shock absorbers into arbitration. The court ruled that there was no valid arbitration agreement in the direct purchaser plaintiffs' limited warranty.

Preti Flaherty's Michael Smith was among the counsel for the direct purchasers in this case.