When John Deere farm equipment breaks down, farmers too often can't fix it in their fields the way they used to—dealers maintain access to software needed for error code-resetting. In some cases, waiting for dealer technicians costs farmers weeks of time, which can add up to enormous amounts of money if a harvest is degraded or lost.
By restricting repair to authorized dealerships, Deere & Co. are illegally tying their repair service and parts to the sale of their equipment, advocates allege. On those grounds, 17 antitrust lawsuits have been filed against Deere & Co. in 2022:
- Forest River Farms v. Deere & Co, filed 1/12/2022, case no. 1:2022cv00188
- Wells v. Deere & Co, filed1/19/2022, case no. 3:2022cv00074
- Underwood v. Deere & Co. (d/b/a John Deere), filed 2/3/2022, case no. 4:2022 cv00005
- Plum Ridge Farms, Ltd. v. Deere & Co., filed 2/7/2022, case no. 3:2022cv50030
- Brown v. Deere & Co., filed 2/11/2022, case no. 3:2022cv50039
- Ferrell et al v. Deere & Co, filed 2/22/2022, case no. 5:2022cv00157
- Hapka Farms, Inc. v. Deere & Co., filed 2/28/2022, case no. 3:2022cv00503
- Eagle Lake Farms Partnership v. Deere & Co., filed 3/11/2022, case no. 3:2022cv50078
- Casselbury v. Deere & Co, filed 3/14/2022, case no. 4:2022cv04049
- Johnson v. Deere & Co., filed 3/15/2022 case no. 1:2022cv00047
- Lloyd Family Farms v. Deere & Co., filed 3/24/2022, case no. 3:2022cv50090
- Deline v. Deere & Co., filed 5/25/2022, case no. 3:2022cv50171
- DeLoach v. Deere & Company, dba John Deere Company, filed 6/6/2022, case no. 1:2022cv02945
- Cronquist v. Deere & Co, filed 6/22/2022, case no. 3:2022cv50223
- Colvin Farms v. Deere & Company, filed 6/28/2022, case no. 1:2022cv03376
- Perry v. Deere & Co., filed 6/29/2022, case no. 1:2022cv03416
- Robbins Family Grain, LLC v. Deere & Company, filed 8/26/2022, case no. 3:2022cv50294
All cases have been identified via public filings published on Justia.
In October 2022, eight of these cases were consolidated into a consolidated class action complaint, announced in this document.
