Companies Resist Effort to Consolidate Tariff Refund Lawsuits

A group of companies including Amazon and Costco is fighting against a bid to centralize at least 25 lawsuits filed by customers seeking tariff refunds. The companies, which also include Adidas America, Walmart, Microsoft, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and PUMA United North America, argue that the suits are too varied to be consolidated in one court. According to their joint motion with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, the cases involve different importers of record who made decisions based on various factors about whether, when, and how much to adjust prices.

The companies contend that centralizing the cases would put the confidentiality of sensitive trade secret information at risk without any countervailing gains in efficiency. They also argue that each defendant's pricing decisions and agreements with distributors and retailers are highly sensitive and confidential trade secret information. Costco, which has three tariff cases pending against it in federal district courts, independently filed a separate motion opposing the proposed centralization.

The Multidistrict Litigation Act of 1968 set up a system whereby a judicial panel could authorize the transfer of cases that have 'one or more common questions of fact'. However, multidistrict litigation can also encourage weak legal claims and give plaintiffs more leverage to push defendants to settle.