DUBLIN—Power management company Eaton Corp. has reached its second big legal settlement in the past week, this time for a half-billion dollars.
The company—headquartered in Dublin with North American headquarters in Beachwood, Ohio—said it signed a settlement agreement with ZF Meritor LLC that “completely resolves” an antitrust lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Delaware. Eaton will pay ZF Meritor LLC $500 million as part of the settlement.
Other terms were not disclosed. ZF Meritor is a joint venture between a Meritor Inc. subsidiary and ZF Friedrichshafen A.G. of Germany.
“It is in the best interests of Eaton shareholders to settle this matter,” said Alexander M. Cutler, Eaton chairman and CEO, in a statement. “The settlement results in a permanent resolution of the matter and removes the uncertainty of a trial and a lengthy appeal process.”
Bloomberg reported last week that a jury in 2009 ruled that Eaton “had damaged Meritor by offering ‘exclusive dealing contracts' and unfair rebates that thwarted competition in North America and gained Eaton 90 percent of the market.”
Meritor was seeking more than $800 million in the damage phase of the trial, according to Bloomberg.
On June 18, Eaton said that it would pay $147.5 million to resolve all litigation issues with Triumph Group Inc. that were pending in Mississippi and North Carolina.