---
title: German Auto Antitrust - Joseph Saveri Law Firm
description: The Joseph Saveri Law Firm represents Plaintiffs in a class action that alleges the “Circle of Five” met secretly and reached agreement on multiple issues.
---

case

# German Auto Antitrust

The Joseph Saveri Law Firm, LLP represents plaintiffs in a class action arising from a widespread and systematic conspiracy among the leading German luxury automobile manufacturers—BMW, VW, Audi, Porsche, and Daimler (the so-called “Circle of Five”)—that began in the early 1990s and continued until at least 2016.

The [complaint alleges](https://www.saverilawfirm.com/hubfs/0001%20-%202017-10-10%20Complaint%20-%20Berenjian%20et%20al%20v%20Audi%20et%20al%20-%2017-cv-05829.pdf?hsLang=en) that executives from the “Circle of Five” met secretly and reached agreement on multiple issues, including exhaust treatment system development, petrol and diesel engine development, component prices, supplier choice, technical specifications, and vehicle development. These meetings were facilitated by their participation in Verband der Automobilindistrie (VDA), the German Association of the Automotive Industry. According to a July 4, 2016 disclosure by VW to the European Commission and German Federal Cartel Office, the Circle of Five’s employees participated in more than 1,000 relevant meetings.

The firm represents a class of persons or entities in the U.S. who purchased or leased a new Circle of Five vehicle from January 1990 to the present. The complaint seeks recovery of monetary damages caused by defendants’ conduct, as well as injunctive relief to prevent this type of anticompetitive conduct now and in the future.

In 2017, the case was related to *In Re German Automotive Manufacturers Antitrust Litigation*, No. 3:17-md-02796, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

 

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