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Venequip claims to have been Caterpillar鈥檚 only authorised distributor in Venezuela, with the partnership between the two companies lasting nearly a century.

Its lawsuit alleges that Caterpillar engaged in a 鈥渄iscriminatory pricing scheme鈥� whereby it sold products to its favoured dealers at discounts of as much as 40% and 鈥済reenlighted鈥� these dealers to sell into Venequip鈥檚 territory 鈥渁t prices that Venequip could not鈥�.

A statement on behalf of Venequip in relation to the filing of the lawsuit added, 鈥淐aterpillar implemented this discriminatory pricing scheme notwithstanding that it forbid Venequip from selling Caterpillar products in the United States and had represented to Venequip that Caterpillar鈥檚 dealer pricing was generally the same around the world. These representations were false.

鈥淰enequip further alleges that Caterpillar went to great pains to conceal its discriminatory pricing scheme.

鈥淎ccording to the lawsuit, when Venequip raised questions with Caterpillar upon learning of the discriminatory pricing scheme, and asked for pricing information, Caterpillar retaliated by terminating the long-standing relationship, making Venequip the only dealer it ever terminated.鈥�

Venequip鈥檚 lawsuit also observed that Caterpillar 鈥渉as been the target of numerous lawsuits and government investigations in recent years.鈥�

In April 2024, a Delaware jury concluded that Caterpillar must pay $100 million to an importer following a legal dispute between the two companies.

Venequip also claimed that Caterpillar had to pay out $1 billion in relation to an investigation by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). However, Caterpillar鈥檚 2023 annual report indicated that having reached a settlement in 2022 with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in relation to issues including disputed tax treatment of profits earned by Caterpillar SARL from certain parts transactions, which Caterpillar 鈥渧igorously鈥� contested, the manufacturer resolved all issues for tax years 2007 through to 2016 without any penalties.

Caterpillar has until 29 July 2024 to respond to the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Caterpillar said, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 comment on pending litigation.鈥�