A former Mack dealer, Toledo Mack Sales & Service, won the right to a jury trial of its claim that Mack Trucks and other Mack dealers violated antitrust law by conspiring to keep Mack prices artificially high.


The finding by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on June 17 reversed a lower court's decision that Toledo Mack should not get a trial because it did not show that there was an antitrust conspiracy.

"The (appeals court) has said there is sufficient evidence for a jury to find for us on the claim," said Wayne A. Mack, Jr., an attorney with Duane Morris LLP, the Philadelphia firm that represented Toledo Mack. He said Toledo Mack's claim on the antitrust violation will go as high as $45 million, and that he hopes the trial will begin in the fall.

Mack spokesperson John Walsh said, "We are currently reviewing the decision and evaluating our options."

The case began in 2002 with a suit by Toledo Mack, then an authorized Mack dealer owned by Dave Yeager of Toledo, Ohio. Toledo Mack, whose business strategy was to aggressively sell at the lowest possible price nationwide, alleged that individual Mack dealers had "gentlemen's agreements" not to compete with each other on price. It also alleged that Mack had an agreement with its dealers to deny discounts to dealers that tried to sell outside of their areas of responsibility.

Toledo Mack went out of business in late 2006.