By Mike Scarcella
Jan 25 (Reuters) - A group of engineering services firms have reached settlements in a federal lawsuit accusing them and others of agreeing not to hire one another's employees and artificially suppressing wages in violation of U.S. antitrust law.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers leading the prospective class-action revealed the proposed settlements on Wednesday in a filing in Connecticut, where more than 20 similar lawsuits were consolidated in 2022.
Attorneys for the engineer plaintiffs said Cyient, which has corporate offices in East Hartford, Connecticut, had agreed to pay $7.4 million to settle allegations.
Three other companies agreed to settle claims in principle: QuEST Global Services, also based in Connecticut; and Florida-based firms Parametric Solutions and Agilis. Terms of those deals were not immediately revealed.
The plaintiffs’ claims were still pending against jet-engine maker RTX’s Pratt & Whitney and Belcan Engineering. The settling companies are outsourcing firms that work with Pratt & Whitney on engineering projects.
Attorneys for Cyient, QuEST, Parametric and Agilis either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
RTX and its lawyers in the case did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lawyers at DiCello Levitt and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan are leading the case for a prospective class, which alleges the conspiracy has kept their wages lower than they otherwise would have been in a competitive market.
An expert for the plaintiffs has estimated damages of between $384 million and $1.18 billion between 2011 to 2019.
“We are pleased to reach these settlements for the benefit of our clients and the class and look forward to continuing to litigate the case against the remaining defendants,” attorneys for the plaintiffs said.
The companies have denied any wrongdoing.
A series of lawsuits hit the docket after the U.S. Justice Department in late 2021 charged a former Pratt & Whitney executive and others in a criminal conspiracy to restrict employee mobility.
Last year, a federal judge issued an order after a trial in the case rejecting the allegations before the jury could consider them.
U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden concluded "no reasonable juror" could have found that competition had stopped for skilled aerospace labor.
The lawyers in the civil case in November asked U.S. District Judge Sarala Nagala to let the proceeding move forward as a class action. The plaintiffs have estimated a class size at “thousands of employees.” Their request is pending.
The case is Borozny et al v. RTX Corp et al, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut, No. 3:21-cv-01657-SVN.
Read more:
General Dynamics, others blast US shipbuilding antitrust lawsuit
US drops antitrust case over healthcare hiring agreements
Aerospace managers acquitted in labor-related antitrust prosecution
Quinn Emanuel, DiCello firms will lead 'no poach' aerospace lawsuits
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)
((Mike.Scarcella@thomsonreuters.com;))
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