Settlements have been reached in a class action lawsuit alleging freight forwarding companies around the world illegally conspired to fix the prices for their services. If you purchased freight forwarding services, you could be eligible for benefits from a class action settlement.

Under the terms of the class action settlement, the term “freight forwarding services” is defined as freight forwarding, transportation, or logistics services for shipments, and includes services relating to the organization or transportation of items via air and ocean, which may include ancillary rail and truck services, both nationally and internationally, as well as related activities such as customs clearance, warehousing, and ground services.

According to the freight forwarding class action lawsuit, the defendants agreed to fix various charges and surcharges associated with providing freight forwarding services. The routes affected allegedly include those between the United States and China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

The settling defendants deny they did anything wrong, but have agreed to settle the class action lawsuit to avoid the cost and risk of trial. The court has already approved 10 settlements, under which the settling defendants agreed to pay a minimum of $105 million. A second round of settlements, totaling more than $197 million, has been presented to the court for approval. The money from both rounds of settlements will be put into a settlement fund that will be distributed to Class Members.