Dr Judith Solzbach is a senior litigation associate at Hogan Lovells in Munich. Her expertise is based in the field of corporate and commercial litigation with a strong focus on antitrust damage proceedings as well as supply-chain disputes. Judith’s passion and dedication in resolving her client’s disputes make her a highly valuable asset to the litigation team at Hogan Lovells. Judith advises clients from different industries with a focus on the automotive and mobility sector. Judith obtained her law and PhD degree at the University of Erlangen and is a German-qualified lawyer.
22
Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages in the amount of EUR 212 million against the former suppliers of a drugstore chain. The German Federal Cartel Office had fined these suppliers for anti-competitive exchange of information. Brief summary of judgment The Higher (...)
24
Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages in the amount of EUR 15 million against the defendants on the basis of their participation in the sugar cartel, which was established and fined by the German Federal Cartel Office in its decision of 18 February 2014. The claims of (...)
35
Brief summary of facts Claimant had bought 2,138 trucks mainly from the brand produced by the defendant. The trucks were brought to Nigeria. Claimant brought an action for damages in the amount of EUR 20.5 million arguing that the transaction was affected by the truck cartel the European (...)
28
Brief summary of facts Claimant, a German undertaking offering enforcement of cartel damages claims (special purpose vehicle), brought an action for damages under assigned rights against participants of the truck cartel, which was fined by the European Commission in its decision of 19 July (...)
38
Brief summary of facts A regional railroad operator brought an action for damages against producers of railway track materials on the basis of their participation in the rail cartel, which had been established and fined by the German Federal Cartel Office in its decision of 18 July 2013. The (...)
25
Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendants on the basis of their participation in the truck cartel, which was established by the European Commission in its decision of 19 July 2016. Other alleged cartel participants were in the proceedings as (...)
28
Brief summary of facts Claimant, a transport and logistics company, had acquired trucks from the defendant. Parts of those trucks were acquired directly by claimant and other parts were acquired through leasing companies. Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendants on the (...)
28
Brief summary of facts The defendant operates a radio station in Potsdam and uses the terrestrial transmitters operated by claimant for the transmission. In August 2015, the Federal Network Agency approved the fees of claimant in appeal for the period from 1 January 2016 onwards. For the (...)
22
Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages to the Regional Court based on purchases between 2005 and 2010 from the defendant. The defendant was later fined by the German Federal Cartel Office for participation in a cartel concerning the goods at stake. Therefore, claimant (...)
40
Brief summary of facts Claimants brought an action for damages against the defendants on the basis of their participation in the rail cartel, which was established by the German Federal Cartel Office in its fining decisions of 3 and 5 July 2012. Until 2011, defendant No. 1 held 50% of the (...)
18
Brief summary of facts The defendants produce fire engines and superstructures for fire engines; the second defendant is the subsidiary company of the first defendant. Claimant bought a fire engine from the subsidiary in 2010 and two vehicles from the parent company in 2008 and 2010. The (...)
19
Brief summary of facts Claimants brought an action for damages against the defendants on the basis of their participation in the rail cartel, which the German Federal Cartel Office had fined in its decision of 18 July 2013. This claim was partially affirmed by the Regional Court. The appeal (...)
23
Brief summary of facts Claimant had leased a truck and brought an action for damages against the defendants on the basis of the participation of their parent company in the truck cartel, which the European Commission had established in its decision of 19 July 2016. Brief summary of (...)
258
The European Court of Justice in Cogeco rejects a direct effect of the Damages Directive in the pre-implementation phase, but establishes that the principle of effectiveness may itself render national rules on limitation of antitrust damages claims ineffective. The European Court of Justice (...)
327
Introduction The European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) issued a landmark decision on 14 March 2019 concerning the application of the concept of “undertaking” and the principle of economic continuity to cartel damages claims. The ECJ ruled in its Skanska judgement that the broad interpretation of (...)
26
Brief summary of facts Claimant is the insolvency administrator of a company which procured 249 trucks of various manufacturers. On the basis of the European Commission’s fining decision of 19 July 2016, it brought an action for damages against one truck manufacturer. The defendant included (...)
85
Brief summary of facts A regional railroad operator brought an action for damages against several producers of railway track materials. The defendants participated in the rail cartel and had previously been fined by the German Federal Cartel Office in its decision of 18 July 2013. Brief (...)
36
Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendants based on assigned claims. The defendants’ participation in the sugar cartel was established and fined by the German Federal Cartel Office in its decision of 18 February 2014. Under the assignment agreements, (...)
38
Brief summary of facts A regional railroad operator brought an action for damages against the defendant, a producer of railway track materials, on the basis of its participation in the rail cartel (Schienenfreunde-Kartell -"Friends of railroads"-cartel), which was established by the Germany (...)
23
Brief summary of facts The German Federal Cartel Office has imposed fines against the defendants which have become final. After the third defendant argued that there is no jurisdiction of the Regional Court of Mannheim, claimant applied to the Higher Regional Court for the competent court to (...)
25
Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendant based on a fining decision of the German Federal Cartel Office regarding the defendant’s practice to induce health insurance funds not to conclude contracts under the so-called shortened care path. The (...)
20
Brief summary of facts The defendants were addressees of the German Federal Cartel Office’s fining decision for participating in the so-called "Hema Vertriebskreis" cartel, in which they had informed each other about negotiations on conditions with food retailers. Claimant stated that its (...)
17
Brief summary of facts Claimant bought railway track materials from one of the defendants in 2002 and 2003. The procurement contracts contained additional conditions which provided for a flat-rate damages compensation of 5% of the value of the contracts, with the reservation of higher (...)
32
Brief summary of facts Although the German Federal Cartel Office’s fining decision on the rail cartel was not issued against the defendant, a later fining decision was issued in 2016, which is not yet final. The claimant brought an action for damages due to increased prices due to the (...)
28
Brief summary of facts Claimant is a transport and logistics company that bought two trucks in 2010. It brought an action for damages against the defendants on the basis of their participation in the truck cartel, which was established by the European Commission in its decision of 19 July (...)
16
Brief summary of facts Claimant purchased grey cement from the defendant, two intervening parties and another entity between 1992 and 2002 for a total of EUR 10.67 million. In April 2003 the German Federal Cartel Office fined the defendant and other producers of cement for territorial and (...)
21
Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against three defendants on the basis of their participation in the sugar cartel, which was established by the German Federal Cartel Office in its fining decision of 18 February 2014. Claimant brought that action before the (...)
31
Brief summary of facts Beginning in April 2005 the claimant tried to build an on-premise network, e.g. in supermarkets or gas stations, for brokering the local public lottery. The German Lotto and Toto Block, which is the umbrella organization of all public lottery companies owned and (...)
32
Brief summary of facts Claimant seeks access to the files of an investigation concerning abuse of a dominant position carried out by the Hessian competition authority. Claimant is preparing a competition damages claim against a local energy supplier. Brief summary of judgment Anyone who (...)
23
Brief summary of facts Following the German Federal Cartel Office’s fine against cement manufacturers in 2003, claimant brought an action for damages in August 2005 against six cement manufacturers on the basis of claims assigned by 36 cement buying companies through assignment agreements. (...)
27
Brief summary of facts Claimant has been the sole shareholder of two subsidiaries that had already been participating for several months in cartel agreements. In 2009 the European Commission imposed a fine of EUR 13.3 million on all three undertakings jointly and severally. Claimant paid (...)
23
Brief summary of facts The defendant and nine other producers of carbonless copy paper formed an EU-wide cartel between 1992 and 1995 and were subsequently fined by the European Commission in 2001. ORWI was a producer of carbonless copy paper form sheets and had purchased input from a wholly (...)
24
Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendant on the basis of its participation in the truck cartel. Following the conclusion of the proceedings against the initial truck manufacturers addressees, the European Commission also adopted a decision against (...)
20
Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages after buying (from 1989 to 1999) vitamins and vitamin mixtures for the production of food products from the defendants at a total delivery price of over 9 million German mark. The defendants participated in a worldwide (...)
