Ortho-Clinical Diagnostic has agreed to pay $19.5 million to resolve a class action alleging that it conspired with another company to fix prices on the reagents used in blood tests. Ortho-Clinical’s $19.5 million will be combined with a $22 million settlement that Immucor Inc. agreed to pay to resolve allegations against it, bringing the total settlement fund to $41.5 million.
Under the proposed settlement, class members who purchased the reagent before Jan. 1, 2005, will receive a pro rata share of the fund and those who purchased the product after that date will receive $250.
The suits claimed that the companies engaged in a price-fixing conspiracy that began in 2000 at an annual meeting of the American Association of Blood Banks, which was attended by executives from both Ortho-Clinical and Immucor, the two leaders in the market for traditional blood reagents.
The case is In re Blood Reagents Antitrust Litigation, case number 2:09-md-02081, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
