- DTN Headline News
Deere Must Provide Trade Group Comms
By Todd Neeley
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 3:20PM CDT

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- John Deere must turn over communications it had with third-party equipment and other trade associations, a federal judge ruled this week in an ongoing antitrust right-to-repair lawsuit.

Deere argued in a January 2025 motion with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois that a variety of communications the company had with trade associations were privileged and not required to be turned over to farmer plaintiffs.

The documents challenged by the plaintiffs in the case relate to discussions among trade association members and counsel regarding fact gathering to defend equipment design, analyzing draft language in right-to-repair position statements and other issues, according to court documents.

A group of 16 farmers sued Deere, alleging that the company violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and are seeking damages for farmers who paid for repairs from John Deere dealers beginning on Jan. 12, 2018, to the present. The farmers alleged Deere has monopolized the repair service market for its equipment with onboard central computers known as engine control units.

Attorneys for Deere said in January 2025 that the company had asserted that information shared between members of the same trade association, as well as between members of differing associations related to right-to-repair legislation, is protected from disclosure.

In addition, Deere maintained that information shared between trade associations that do not share common membership also is privileged.

The Deere communications in question include those with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association. John Deere is a member of both, according to court documents.

In an order handed down on Monday, U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston disagreed with Deere's argument.

Allowing Deere to "jam potentially thousands of entities" into the "attorney-client circle" would defeat the common-interest privilege rule, Johnston said.

"Deere didn't meet its burden of showing the narrow-shared interest exception applies," the court said in its order. "So, the court finds that, to the extent Deere withheld documents with trade associations under a shared-interest rationale, Deere must produce them."

Attorneys corresponded with various trade associations and their members, Johnston said in the order, and the plaintiffs asserted that hundreds of entities comprised those associations.

"It's true that, in some general sense, all members share interests in defeating certain litigation or complying with regulations," Johnston said, "as does nearly every company. But the doctrine construes a 'shared legal interest' far more narrowly, applying it when the interests (and perhaps the communicators) are essentially identical."

The case remains in the discovery phase that is expected to last until May 19, 2025, according to court documents.

Just before the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the Federal Trade Commission under former President Joe Biden and the states of Minnesota and Illinois sued John Deere in the same court, alleging "anticompetitive conduct" on the company's part, https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Read more on DTN:

"Senator Questions Deere CEO on Repairs," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @DTNeeley


blog iconDTN Blogs & Forums
DTN Market Matters Blog
Editorial Staff
Friday, March 7, 2025 12:44PM CDT
Monday, March 3, 2025 10:02AM CDT
Friday, February 28, 2025 12:00PM CDT
Fundamentally Speaking
Joel Karlin
DTN Contributing Analyst
Thursday, March 6, 2025 9:11AM CDT
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 10:42AM CDT
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 8:00AM CDT
DTN Ag Policy Blog
Chris Clayton
DTN Ag Policy Editor
Monday, March 10, 2025 12:50PM CDT
Monday, March 10, 2025 8:44AM CDT
Monday, March 3, 2025 8:11AM CDT
Minding Ag's Business
Katie Behlinger
Farm Business Editor
Wednesday, December 4, 2024 8:01AM CDT
Thursday, November 14, 2024 12:31PM CDT
Thursday, November 14, 2024 12:31PM CDT
DTN Ag Weather Forum
Bryce Anderson
DTN Ag Meteorologist and DTN Analyst
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 8:17AM CDT
Monday, March 3, 2025 12:02PM CDT
Friday, February 28, 2025 3:12PM CDT
DTN Production Blog
Pam Smith
Crops Technology Editor
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 10:41AM CDT
Thursday, February 20, 2025 2:08PM CDT
Friday, February 14, 2025 10:48AM CDT
Harrington's Sort & Cull
John Harrington
DTN Livestock Analyst
Monday, March 10, 2025 4:01PM CDT
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 12:46PM CDT
Monday, March 3, 2025 2:25PM CDT
An Urban’s Rural View
Urban Lehner
Editor Emeritus
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 7:03AM CDT
Wednesday, February 19, 2025 11:54AM CDT
Wednesday, February 19, 2025 11:42AM CDT
Canadian Markets
Cliff Jamieson
Canadian Grains Analyst
Monday, March 10, 2025 11:21AM CDT
Monday, March 10, 2025 11:21AM CDT
Thursday, March 6, 2025 12:30PM CDT
Editor’s Notebook
Greg D. Horstmeier
DTN Editor-in-Chief
Friday, February 7, 2025 5:14PM CDT
Friday, February 7, 2025 5:14PM CDT
Friday, January 24, 2025 1:25PM CDT
Copyright DTN. All rights reserved. Disclaimer.
Powered By DTN