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VOL. 6 ISSUE 8 NOVEMBER 2015
Supreme Court Declines to Hear Antitrust Claims of Predatory Pricing in GM Parts Conquest Program
AASP/NJ Executive Director Charles Bryant Speaks Out on Alleged Body Shop P&M Scammer
It is a common refrain in legal opinions on antitrust law that the laws were designed for “the protection of competition, not competitors.” This distinction was recently upheld in the case of Felder’s Collision Parts, Inc—a Louisiana dealer of aftermarket auto body parts that are compatible with GM vehicles—in its suit against All Star Automotive Group and it’s Advertising Subsidiary—a dealer of GM-manufactured parts. Felder’s filed an antitrust suit against All Star and GM alleging that
“When I read the article about a body shop owner scamming an insurance company on the cost of paint and materials, my blood started to boil. The more I read, the hotter I got, but not for the reasons that one might first imagine. First, let me be perfectly clear. I have no compassion for anyone who would supply an insurance company with a fictitious invoice in order to be compensated for a part, material, paint or anything else that he does not deserve to be paid for, nor do I condone this type of illegal activity. If this is truly what this party actually did, then he should suffer the consequences. However, on a daily basis, I see insurance companies shortchanging their own insureds, causing collision shops to conduct repairs for less than the cost of the paint materials that are required to properly repair automobiles that are damaged in an accident when the repairs are being paid for by an insurance company.
by Autobody News Staff
GM’s “Bump the Competition” program was an unlawful predatory pricing scheme. The program lowers the consumer price for GM-manufactured parts below the prices of equivalent aftermarket auto parts manufactured by others. It does so by providing rebates to dealers like All Star that sell GM-manufactured parts at the reduced prices. The rebates ensure that the dealers still make a profit on these sales despite the lower price charged to shops and consumers, however the case hinged on the amount of the rebate and whether it was sufficient to reduce the cost of GM’s See Antitrust Claims, Page 14
Body Shops Await News About MDL After Florida Case Dismissed, Plaintiff Law Firm Comments
See Case Dismissed, Page 28
P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018
After the lead case in the Multi-District Litigation was dismissed by a Florida judge on September 24, body shops across the country are watching closely to see what happens next. Autobody News spoke to John Eaves, the lead attorney for the consolidated lawsuit, A&E et al v. 21st Century, to find out how this will affect the other cases. “Our best guess is that he (Judge Gregory Presnell) will try to do that in the other states as well,” he said. In what Eaves referred to as a “delay of games,” he said from an organizational standpoint Judge Presnell
is probably going to send the remaining cases to the appellate court and let them sort out what the law actually is. However, he said it’s possible that the judge may “cherry pick” and make a different decision in each of the different states involved. Eaves said that he was surprised and disappointed with the news but Eaves Law Firm plans to file an appeal and shops should not lose hope. “There is a lot of activity still going on and our commitment is still solid when it comes to customers getting a quality repair,” said Eaves. “This is not the end of our efforts. We’re interpret-
Change Service Requested
by Stacey Phillips, Assistant Editor
by Charles Bryant
Many insurers in the State of New Jersey are currently using an antiquated, outdated formula to determine or limit the amount that they will pay for the cost of paint and materials required to repair damaged vehicles even though there are multiple accurate and computerized cost accounting programs readily available to the insurance companies or anyone else to determine the exact costs. This paint and material issue was addressed by the NJ Department of Banking and Insurance back in 2007. At that time, the Department issued Bulletin 07-20, which cautioned insurers that traditional methods used for paint and material allowances were inadequate, recessive and were resulting in estimates that do not provide a sufficient allowance to restore vehicles to pre-accident condition. The bulletin put insurers on notice that they must be able to justify their paint and material allowances. Because of the huge difference in the cost of red paint as opposed to, let’s See Charles Bryant, Page 63
Shops in SC Wade through Water Damage in Effort to Save Vehicles
handful of body shops in the area, all of which were not directly affected by On October 4, South Carolina experithe hurricane floodwaters, but experienced a “thousand-year flood” as Hurenced the surge in demand for their ricane Joaquin ripped by the capital services. For the past 10 days, these shops have been sifting through the wreckage to find the salvageable vehicles, and identify the ones beyond repair. “Once the vehicle has been completely submerged underwater, it is difficult to repair; but not impossible,” said Dominick Santoro, an estimator at Caliber Collision in ColumA car marked for salvage sinks in floodwaters in Columbia, bia. Although Caliber ColliSC on Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. Credit: @francesncr/instagram sion remained open amidst city of Columbia, dumping 20–30 Joaquin, Santoro experienced damages inches of rain in a 24-hour period. on the homefront. See SC Flooding, Page 18 Autobody News reached out to a by Victoria Antonelli and Cass Heckel
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