March 13, 2026
Court Adopts Econ One Expert Phillip Johnson’s Damages Model in Landmark CRT Price-Fixing Case
U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar (N.D. Cal.) has issued an order adopting the damages model developed and presented by Econ One Managing Director Dr. Phillip Johnson in *In re Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation* — one of the longest-running and most closely watched price-fixing MDLs in recent memory.
The case involves a global cartel of electronics manufacturers that conspired to fix prices for cathode ray tubes used in televisions and computer monitors from 1995 through 2007. After other defendants settled for over half a billion dollars, Irico Group Corporation — a Chinese state-owned enterprise — proceeded to trial following terminating sanctions for discovery misconduct.
After a three-day evidentiary hearing with competing models from Dr. Johnson and two other damages experts, Judge Tigar chose Dr. Johnson’s dynamic regression model as the most reliable estimate of cartel overcharges for both direct and indirect purchaser classes. The Court’s order methodically worked through the competing expert approaches, crediting Dr. Johnson’s economic reasoning on the persistence of cartel price effects and rejecting proposed modifications by the defense expert that would have confounded the estimation of conduct effects with unrelated market factors.
Congratulations to Dr. Johnson and the entire Econ One team on this result. It reflects what we do every day: build rigorous, defensible analyses that hold up in the most demanding forums.
