Archives

Dispute in the Italian broadcasting sector

Lear assisted an Italian broadcaster claiming damages resulting from discrimination in promotion efforts. Lear economists were involved in proceedings before the court appointed expert aimed at ascertaining the extent of the discrimination that the broadcaster was subjected to.

Damages quantification in the football audio-visual rights market – ongoing

Lear has been appointed to quantify the damage arising from an anti-competitive agreement aimed at altering the tenders for the award of audio-visual rights for the broadcasting of Italian football matches abroad. The media firms involved in the agreement were sanctioned by the Italian Competition Authority in early 2019.

Damages estimation for potential breach of contract in the long-term car rental sector

In 2019, Lear advised a firm supplying long-term car rental services in assessing whether to unilaterally terminate a contract with one of its customers. Lear provided an independent estimate of the effects of the unilateral termination in terms of the amount of damages that the client would be liable for in the event of a unilateral termination of the contract, taking into account the likely evolution of the customer’s fleet. In 2020, Lear assisted its client again in order to update its assessments according to the evolution of the contractual relationship between Lear’s client and its customer during the last year. In particular, Lear provided a comparison between two different scenarios: one regards the continuation of the contract at different and better conditions, and the other one refers to the unilateral termination of the contract.

.

Damages estimation for potential breach of contract in the long-term car rental sector

Lear advised a firm offering long-term car rental services, who is assessing whether to unilaterally terminate a contract with one of its clients. Lear provided an independent estimate of the effects of the unilateral termination in terms of the amount of damages that the client would be liable for the event of a unilateral termination of the contract, taking into account the likely evolution of customer’s fleet.

Damages estimation for unfair practices in the telecommunication market

Lear has been retained by a telecom operator to estimate damages arising from unfair commercial practices implemented by a rival. The practices result in the loss of existing and potential customers. Lear will be involved in the quantification of the damages caused by the conduct.

DAMAGES ESTIMATION IN THE EUROPEAN TRUCK MARKET – ONGOING

Lear is assisting multiple hauliers in the Italian, Slovak, and Czech Republic market in the action for damages arising from a collusive price-fixing agreement in the market for medium and heavy trucks, as established by the European Commission. In Italy, Lear is currently involved in five claims and assisting 212 firms. Lear economists have been appointed for assessing the price overcharge caused by the cartel and for showing the lack of any substantial pass-on rate from the intermediate to the final consumer. Lear has estimated the price overcharge caused by the cartel using a consolidated methodology in the practice, the “during and after” estimation method.

Arbitration dispute in the Mexican telecom market

Tele Fácil, a Mexican telecommunication company, initiated a dispute against the Mexican telecom regulator, IFT, in relation to the implementation of an interconnection agreement negotiated with the incumbent operator, Telmex.
The interconnection agreement between Tele Fácil and Telmex involved, among several elements, a very high interconnection rate for all the traffic delivered from Telmex to Tele Fácil network. According to Tele Fácil, the IFT has failed to enforce the agreement thereby impeding the development of several business lines and expropriating the investment made by Tele Fácil. This has allegedly generated a relevant profit loss. Lear assisted the Mexican regulator by developing both empirical and theoretical arguments against the estimation of damages presented by Tele Fácil. Paolo Buccirossi also gave testimony at the oral hearing that was held in Washington D.C in April 2019.