TROY, Mich. — ArvinMeritor announced late yesterday that a jury has ruled in favor of ZF Meritor LLC, a venture between ArvinMeritor, ZF Friedrichshafen AG and Meritor Transmission Corp., an ArvinMeritor company, in the companies’ antitrust lawsuit against Eaton Corp. The jury found that Eaton engaged in exclusionary and anticompetitive conduct in the sale and marketing of heavy-duty truck transmissions. The case was tried in United States District Court for the District of Delaware.
ArvinMeritor’s Chairman, CEO and President, Chip McClure, said, “We are elated that the jury recognized Eaton’s wrongful conduct in violation of antitrust laws that harmed competition in the markets for heavy-duty truck transmissions, forced us to exit the NAFTA line-haul transmission business and led to the demise of our joint venture with ZF Industries.
“In bringing this lawsuit forward, we sought to protect our loyal customers who have relied on our superior products and services. We knew our customers deserved the right to choose the transmissions they specify and that a significant number of those customers would have preferred ZF Meritor transmissions had they been available without restriction. Due to the exclusionary tactics employed by our competitor, we believe our products became difficult and ultimately impossible for our customers to choose as alternatives to Eaton’s offerings. We are grateful to the jury members for their time and for making the right decision to create fair competition and fair play in our marketplace,” continued McClure.
The ruling completes the initial phase of the trial in which the jury was asked to determine whether or not Eaton was liable for the alleged violations. Given the jury’s finding that Eaton did engage in anticompetitive conduct, the parties will now proceed to the damages phase of the legal process through a separate trial.
