Cartel

Holcim, HeidelbergCement lose bid to dismiss lawsuit

HeidelbergCement AG, Holcim Ltd. and four other cement makers lost a court bid to throw out a lawsuit over a price-fixing cartel.

A lawsuit filed by Cartel Damage Claims SA, which represents unidentified companies, can proceed, the higher regional court of Dusseldorf ruled today, backing the conclusions reached by a lower court last year. The suit is seeking at least 114 million euros ($175.9 million) in damages.

“As far as the admissibility of the claim is concerned, the claimant has provided sufficient evidence for its calculation and the minimum damage it claims,” the court said in an e-mailed statement today.

The case stems from a 2003 German investigation and fines against the cement makers, including Cemex SAB, Dyckerhoff AG, Schwenk Zement KG and French rival Lafarge SA, for fixing prices for cement by colluding on production quotas and geographical regions in a cartel stretching back to the 1970s.

The decision only says that the case can proceed at the regional court, said Peter Gysel, a spokesman for Jona, Switzerland-based Holcim. “This means that in a next step that court will analyze the validity of the actual arguments in the lawsuit,” he said.

Today's decision hasn't changed HeidelbergCement's view that the lawsuit is unjustified, Brigitte Fickel, a spokeswoman at the Heidelberg-based company said by telephone. The companies can petition for the right to appeal today's decision at the Federal Court of Justice, Germany's highest civil court.

“Nothing has been decided on the substance of the matter,” Dyckerhoff spokeswoman Birgit Eggersmeier said. “We're still at the beginning of the legal dispute.”

A Schwenk Zement spokeswoman declined to comment and spokespeople at Cemex's German unit in Ratingen couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

(Published by Bloomberg 14, 2008)