A US judge ruled that Deere & Co. must face lawsuits from farmers and crop farms alleging that the agricultural machinery firm has illegally conspired to restrict services for repair and maintenance.
Deere’s efforts to annul the consolidated lawsuits accusing the company of violating US Antitrust law was rejected by US District Judge Iain Johnston in Rockford, Illinois,.
According to the judge, the plaintiffs had met thresholds to follow their lawsuits.
In his 89-page order, Judge Johnston wrote that according to the lawsuit’s allegations Deere has the ultimate control of the repair services market. He added that the allegations were not just legal conclusions as the complaint was chock-full of factual allegations to support this conclusion.
The Moline, Illinois-based agricultural machinery maker has denied the allegations and has the chance to dispute the merits of the farmers’ claims at a later stage in the case.
Daniel Hedlund of the Minneapolis-based law firm Gustafson Gluek and a lead plaintiff’s attorney in the case said they looked forward to continuing the pursuit of their farmer clients in this right-to-repair antitrust case.
The lawsuit is part of an increasing movement by customers and others to overturn limitations on upkeep and repairs. This month, a U.S. judge in California dismissed a right-to-repair lawsuit against Tesla, but allowed drivers to resubmit an updated complaint.
The Biden administration, which critics claim drives up consumer costs, has generally supported a federal legislative effort to end restrictive repair practices.
Six potential class actions in the Deere litigation were merged before Johnston last year. According to the lawsuits, Deere colluded with dealerships to dictate the location and method of machine upkeep and repair.
