Deutsche Bahn Sues SGL Carbon, Other Cos For Damages

FRANKFURT, Dec. 20, 2010 - Deutsche Bahn AG and other European railway operators have filed a civil claim for damages against the members of a suspected cartel for carbon and graphite products, including German carbon fiber producer SGL Carbon SE (SGL.XE), Deutsche Bahn said Monday.
Between 1988 and 1999, Deutsche Bahn and other railway operators said they purchased carbon and graphite products for excessive prices from several companies including SGL Carbon, Morgan Crucible Co. PLC (MGCR.LN), Schunk, Le Carbone-Lorraine and Hoffman & Co. Elektrokohle.
The European Commission fined the companies in 2003, but the case dragged on until 2009. This paved the way for civil action, Deutsche Bahn said, for damages during this period.
The German railway operator said its share in the compensation claim, which is in the low three-digit million euro area, amounts to 30%. The railway companies have filed the claim to London's Competition Appeal Tribunal, which has its own jurisdiction for antitrust law violations.
"We're relaxed about the procedure," an SGL Carbon spokesman said in a statement. "This is about smaller marginal businesses" that the comapany sold by 2003." SGL also raised the question of whether a U.K. court can have the jurisdiction to deal with potential claims for which the appeal time has lapsed for some time in Germany.
According to a report in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday, other plaintiffs include Italy's Trenitalia, the Netherland's NS, Norway's and Portugal's state railway operator and Spain's Metro de Madrid, as well as Goeteborg's local traffic operator.