In re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation: Seeger Weiss LLP - COMMERCIAL DISPUTES GROUP

The Firm represents shipping customers in a proposed class action brought against the country’s four major railroads for antitrust violations. The Defendants in this multidistrict litigation, pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, are alleged to have conspired to fix the prices of “rail fuel surcharges” above competitive levels, causing the Plaintiffs to pay exorbitant rates for unregulated rail freight transportation services – rates that were unrelated to fuel costs. The briefing on the Defendants’ motion to dismiss, which focuses largely on the higher pleading standards enunciated by the Supreme Court in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 127 S. Ct. 1955 (2007), will be concluded in August 2008 and oral argument is set for October 2008. Seeger Weiss has been appointed as Co-Chair of the Law and Briefing Committee.