in power

Along with five U.S. states, the Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement in its antitrust lawsuit against Deere & Company saying this “will ensure farmers can enjoy the right to repair their own John Deere tractors and farm equipment.”

The FTC’s settlement requires Deere to provide farmers and independent repair providers with the same equipment repair resources, including applicable software capabilities, that it currently provides to authorized Deere dealers. The agreement has a 10-year and entails supervision of the FTC and plaintiff states. This resolves the FTC and states’ joint lawsuit against Deere, which alleged that Deere used unlawful practices to limit the ability of farmers and independent repair providers to perform repairs on Deere farm equipment.

“Today’s settlement enables farmers to do what they’ve done for generations—fix their own tractors and other farm equipment—without having to pay an authorized John Deere dealer to do it for them,” said FTC Bureau of Competition Director Daniel Guarnera.

Earlier this spring, Deere & Company reached a $99 million settlement to a four-year legal battle with farmers concerning “right to repair” of the company’s tractors and other agricultural equipment. In that settlement, filed April 6 in U.S. District Court, Deere denied wrongdoing. Plaintiffs alleged they had to have the repairs done through Deere dealers at a higher cost, alleging that Deere has a monopoly on such repair services.

What are the terms of this settlement?

Under the terms of the latest settlement order, Deere will be required to:

• Make available to farmers and independent repair providers, on fair and reasonable terms, repair resources equivalent to those Deere now makes available to Deere dealers;
• Make available to farmers and independent repair providers any future repair resources that are similar or reasonably necessary for repairs, once Deere makes them available to over 50 percent of its authorized dealer network in the United States;
• Instruct its authorized dealers to promote the availability of these repair resources and support their use, and not to discriminate or retaliate against any farmers or independent repair providers who purchase or use such resources rather than dealer repair services; and
• Provide notice to the public, to Deere’s farmer and independent repair provider customers and to its authorized dealers information about the stipulated order and the availability of Deere’s repair resources.

The Commission vote to issue the proposed stipulated order was 2-0 and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Joining the proposed order are the FTC’s co-plaintiffs, the states of Illinois, Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Another right-to-repair case, but landscaping focused

On May 14, a landscaping contractor filed suit against Deere & Company in U.S. District Court in Illinois. Much of the right-to-repair litigation efforts have focused on farm equipment to date. This suit was brought by Christy Webber & Company, a commercial, municipal and residential landscaping service based in Chicago.

In the suit filed “on behalf of itself and others so situated,” Webber alleges violations of antitrust law for repairs of and parts for equipment in Deere’s construction and forestry line, including wheel loaders, compact track loaders, excavators and skid steers.

“Deere C&F equipment owners face the same lock-in, delays, overcharges, and loss of repair choice that has drawn judicial, regulatory, and public ire in the agriculture segment,” the lawsuit says. “Antitrust enforcement has exposed Deere’s scheme, but has not remedied the harm suffered by Deere C&F equipment owners. This lawsuit seeks to change that.”

Webber said its in-house mechanics have not been able to perform repairs beyond simple mechanical issues because it has been denied access to Deere’s “Fully Functional Tool,” which only its dealers have access, the suit alleges.