Compass Lexecon Expert, Professor Dennis Carlton, Testifies Successfully In Multi-Billion Dollar LCD Antitrust Trial

On Monday, June 25, Compass Lexecon expert, Dennis Carlton, testified as a damages expert in the direct-purchaser class portion of the TFT-LCD price fixing litigation, in which Toshiba was the sole remaining Defendant (all others had settled previously). The six-week trial ended on June 28, and on July 3 the jury returned a verdict. The jury found Toshiba liable for participating in a price fixing conspiracy, making Carlton's damages testimony critical. While Plaintiffs and their economic experts argued for overcharges of nearly $900 million—and thus damages of more than $2.5 Billion after trebling, the jury determined that overcharges were only $87 million. Critically, this value was low enough that, even after trebling, it was below the settlement payments already made by other Defendants, meaning that Toshiba will likely not have to pay any damages. Polling of jurors revealed that Carlton's testimony was "very influential in the deliberations." Carlton was supported in writing his expert reports and developing his testimony by a Compass Lexecon team led by Mark Israel, and including Ian MacSwain, Guillermo Israilevich, Chris Cavanagh, Theresa Sullivan, Joel Papke, and Georgi Giozov. Carlton and Compass Lexecon worked closely with lawyers from White and Case, who successfully represented Toshiba, including Christopher Curran, J. Mark Gidley, Martin Toto, John Chung, and Kristen McAhren.