March 17, 2026
In re: Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation Court: U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (MDL No. 1917)
Overview
Dr. Phillip Johnson developed and presented a damages model for direct purchaser plaintiffs in one of the largest price-fixing cases in U.S. history. The litigation alleged that a global cartel fixed prices for cathode ray tubes — used in televisions and computer monitors — from March 1995 through November 2007. With most defendants having settled for over $547 million, the remaining defendants, Chinese state-owned enterprises Irico Group Corporation and Irico Display Devices Co., Ltd., proceeded to a default judgment following terminating sanctions for discovery misconduct.
Contribution
Dr. Johnson designed a dynamic regression model to estimate the overcharges paid by direct purchasers as a result of the conspiracy. His approach incorporated a lagged price variable to capture the persistence of cartel pricing across periods — reflecting the documented practice of cartel members setting price targets for future quarters anchored to prior actual and target prices. He estimated that CDT prices were elevated on average by approximately 10.7 percent and CPT prices by approximately 6.1 percent during the conspiracy period.
Outcome
Following a three-day evidentiary hearing in May 2025, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar adopted a modified version of Dr. Johnson’s model as the most reasonable estimate of cartel overcharges. The court applied this model to both the direct and indirect purchaser classes — a unified approach that the court found more coherent than applying different overcharge estimates across classes. The court credited Dr. Johnson’s economic reasoning on the dynamic specification, adopted the modification to run separate regressions for CPTs and CDTs, and rejected the defense’s proposed annual conduct variables. Parties have been ordered to meet and confer on a final damages calculation.
