A filing Tuesday by the Department of Justice (DOJ) urged a federal court in Illinois not to throw out a class action suit that consolidated several farmers’ lawsuits against John Deere over repair restrictions, one that the U.S. gov’t is not directly involved in at this point.
The DOJ filing said that farmers could face higher repair costs due to the restrictions on repairing their equipment and the court should reject Deere’s stance that a competitive market for tractors and other agricultural equipment equates to a competitive market for repairs.
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The DOJ said the case is similar to a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against Kodak relative to copy machines where the court ruled that Kodak restricting access to replacement parts by independent repair shops can be an antitrust violation.
The DOJ filing also said repair restrictions increase financial pressures on farmers, noting an “uptick in family farmer bankruptcies nationwide” since 2014:
“These various machines, or ‘tractors’ for short, enable American agriculture. When they break or fail to operate and repair markets function poorly, agriculture suffers. Crops waste. Land lies fallow,” the filing said.
Related article: John Phipps: In Right to Repair, Farmers May Be Watching the Wrong Battle
The DOJ filing was silent on whether they thought farmers would eventually be successful in their suit.
Deere maintains that 98% of repairs can be done without using an authorized dealership and it recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation recommitting to farmers having access to repair information and tools. Critics note remaining restrictions on what farmers and independent repair shops can and cannot repair.
