August 12, 2015
In re: Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation
The defendants in this case–the four largest U.S. railroads–were accused of conspiring to fix the levels of rail freight fuel surcharges from 2003 through 2008. Prior to Econ One’s involvement in the case, there already had been proceedings leading to certification of a class of shippers of rail freight. The parties also had exchanged merits reports, but then an appellate court had remanded the case for further analysis of class certification issues in light of intervening Supreme Court jurisprudence. The parties then exchanged supplemental expert reports, and a renewed class certification proceeding was pending when issues surfaced regarding the credibility of the plaintiffs primary economic expert, Dr. Gordon Rausser.
Econ One was retained by counsel for the plaintiffs to assess the reasonableness, reliability, and integrity of the economic analyses that Dr. Rausser had performed over the course of the case, as well as the criticisms of Dr. Rausser’s work that had been raised in reports submitted by a number of experts for the defendants. Jeffrey Leitzinger submitted an expert report addressing these issues and he also provided deposition testimony. Dr. Leitzinger may testify at the upcoming class certification hearing.