Cases
5
major European class actions for competition law infringements
>3 billion €
in purchase volume
>5 million
document pages processed
>4,000
Participants
(small, medium & large companies)
>500 million €
in damages
Overview of cases
In 2016 and 2017, the European Commission imposed fines on all major European truck manufacturers for operating an illegal cartel.
unilegion Truck Claims Foundation, established in the Netherlands, organized a class action for damages on behalf of truck buyers which was filed in the Amsterdam district court in July 2021. In total, the class action comprises damage claims for around 15,000 trucks that had been acquired by around 700 companies from several EU member states, particularly France, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Greece.
The truck cartel
At the beginning of 2020, the German Federal Cartel Office imposed fines totaling around 157 million euros on eight wholesalers of plant protection products (“Pflanzenschutzmittel”) for illegal cartel agreements.
The wholesalers had agreed on the prices at which they sold crop protection products to both retailers and end customers (i.e. farms) in Germany between 1998 and March 2015.
unilegion has filed a class action lawsuit seeking damages on behalf of over 3,200 affected farmers, whose combined purchasing volume exceeds 1 billion euros. The case has been pending before the Dortmund Regional Court since December 2024.
The pesticides cartel
In July 2019, the Italian Competition Authority imposed fines totaling €287 million on more than 20 manufacturers of corrugated cardboard and cardboard boxes in Italy.
According to the authority's findings, the manufacturers had colluded on prices from 2004 (corrugated board) and 2005 (corrugated cardboard boxes) until 2017, thereby violating antitrust law.
unilegion organizes a class action lawsuit on behalf of aggrieved corrugated cardboard box buyers in Italy against the manufacturers.
The corrugated cardboard cartel
Abuse of dominant position by Google (AdTech)
In September 2025, the European Commission imposed a fine of EUR 2.95 billion on Google for abusing its dominant position in online advertising. In particular, Google systematically favoured its own ad exchange AdX, to the detriment of website and app operators. As early as June 2021, the French competition authority had fined Google EUR 220 million for comparable practices.
unilegion is organising a class action before a German court for website and app operators from Germany and other EU member states who, as a result of Google's practices, earned too little advertising revenue and paid excessive fees to Google.
In April 2025, the European Commission imposed fines totalling €458 million on fifteen major car manufacturers for operating an illegal cartel concerning the recycling of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs).
Over a period of fifteen years, from 2002 to 2017, the companies coordinated their approach to ELV recycling: They agreed, in particular, not to pay recycling and treatment facilities for processing old vehicles. This conduct breached EU competition law and harmed recycling businesses across Europe.
unilegion is organising a class action on behalf of car recycling companies throughout Europe that suffered financial losses as a result of the manufacturers’ unlawful conduct.
The End-of-Life Vehicle Recycling Cartel
Companies in almost all Italian regions pay a regional surcharge on natural gas (ARISGAM/ARISGAN) through their gas bills, which is presumably contrary to EU law. The Italian Constitutional Court examined the matter at a public hearing on 7 October 2026; its decision is expected in the coming months. The corresponding provincial surcharge on electricity has already been annulled.
Together with the law firm RÖDL, unilegion is organising the recovery of the surcharge paid over the last ten years for affected companies in Italy, at no cost and no risk to them.