11/29/23 | Court Grants Class Certification and Denies Align’s Motion to Exclude Plaintiffs’ Experts
A federal judge certified two consumer classes in the ongoing class-action lawsuit against Align Technology, an injunctive relief class of indirect purchasers and a state-law damages class of indirect purchasers. In doing so, Judge Vince Chhabria found that Align’s arguments were insufficient to defeat class certification. The court also denied Align’s motion to exclude plaintiffs’ experts who measured allegedly anticompetitive effects of Align’s behavior, including an estimate that Align’s conduct has been responsible for at least $180 million in damages paid for by consumers. The class certification order states, “the Court concludes that the expert opinions in both actions are reliable and capable of providing class-wide answers to the questions central to the plaintiffs’ claims.”
Did you purchase Invisalign Aligners without the benefit of dental insurance?
You may have paid too much due to an alleged illegal price-fixing scheme. Fill out the form to find out your rights to potential compensation »
INVISALIGN CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT
According to the lawsuit, for years, Align Technology has engaged in illegal conduct regarding the marketing and sale of its signature product, Invisalign Aligners, causing millions of U.S. consumers to pay artificially high prices. If you purchased Invisalign Aligners for yourself or a family member, then you may be entitled to damages for the allegedly inflated prices that you paid.
ABOUT THE ALLEGED INVISALIGN PRICE-FIXING SCHEME
According to the lawsuit, for many years, Align was able to charge high prices for its Invisalign Aligners because its technology was protected by patents. When these patents began expiring in 2017, Align faced newfound competition in the Aligner market.
According to the complaint, instead of responding to that competition by lowering prices or investing in technological development that would have improved the quality of its own Aligners, Align severed a partnership with a key provider of scanners, which are hand-held devices used to generate digital images of patients’ teeth and jaws. Align replaced the relationship with an in-house product that it bundled with Invisalign orders, thus further cornering the Aligner market.
Align allegedly designed its scanner in such a way where it was prohibitively expensive and laborious for dentists and orthodontists to use it for other Aligners. And Align further cemented its alleged monopoly by entering into exclusive agreements with two of the nation’s largest dental service organizations.
YOUR CONSUMER RIGHTS
The lawsuit seeks reimbursement for high prices paid by consumers as a result of Align’s allegedly anticompetitive conduct. Hagens Berman believes that consumers who unknowingly paid allegedly inflated prices for Invisalign Aligners deserve compensation for the greed and wrongdoing of the manufacturer.
TOP CONSUMER RIGHTS FIRM
Hagens Berman is one of the most successful consumer litigation law firms in the United States, achieving total settlements valued at more than $320 billion for plaintiffs. Your claim will be handled by experts in national consumer-rights law.
NO COST TO YOU
There is no cost or fee whatsoever involved in joining this action. In the event Hagens Berman or any other firm obtains a settlement that provides benefits to class members, the court will decide a reasonable fee to be awarded to the class' legal team. In no case will any class member ever be asked to pay any out-of-pocket sum.
