A separate criminal antitrust investigation by the Justice Department is pending.
Criminal antitrust cases, however, are notoriously difficult to prove.
The class-action suits come amid a criminal antitrust investigation by the Justice Department.
Civil suits like these are common in the wake of a criminal antitrust investigation, class-action lawyers said.
The Takata Corporation is the latest auto parts maker to be charged in what the Justice Department said was its largest criminal antitrust investigation.
Headed by the U.S. attorney general, it investigates and prosecutes cases under federal antitrust, civil-rights, criminal, tax, and environmental laws.
But it has also agreed to plead guilty to a criminal antitrust charge and pay a $45 million fine, spread over five years, and it faces huge legal bills.
21, 2000, after Christie's, Sotheby's rival, announced it was cooperating with a criminal antitrust investigation... still the controlling shareholder of the auction house.
(Sir Anthony has also been indicted but cannot be forced to appear because extradition treaties with Britain do not cover criminal antitrust charges).
The Justice Department's criminal antitrust division has authority over bid-rigging, and that part of the investigation is being led by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
