Tractable has accused CCC Intelligent Solutions of violating federal antitrust laws in a court filing March 11, alleging CCC is using its 85% market share of the estimatics market to limit customer choice and raise prices that ultimately impact the consumer.
Estimatics products can be used to identify automotive damage, diagnose necessary repairs and estimate the costs of such repairs.
Tractable leveled the charges in its motion for leave to file an amended answer and counterclaim, filed as part of ongoing litigation between the two companies in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
“Today, Tractable took legal action against CCC, challenging what Tractable believes is anticompetitive conduct that harms the auto collision ecosystem. Tractable took this legal action to enable choice and best-of-breed technologies in the ecosystem: for insurers, repairers, service providers and everyday Americans, who pay for auto insurance as a life necessity,” said Alex Dalyac, founder and CEO of Tractable.
The litigation originated in October 2018, when CCC filed a lawsuit against Tractable, claiming it used a fake company named "JA Appraisals" and a person named "Jason Chen" -- an alias for Xing Xin, Tractable's former head of product development -- to get a license to gain access to CCC's proprietary platforms, including CCC ONE.
CCC alleged over the next 14 months, Tractable used CCC ONE to create test files with fictitious inputs to generate unusual estimates that did not follow “the conventional appraiser workflow.” Instead of finalizing the estimates in the “workfiles” and transmitting them to insurers, CCC alleged Tractable created the files to “replicate (at least in part) CCC ONE's proprietary information and algorithms,” in violation of JA Appraisal's licensing agreement, which was “conditioned on the independent appraiser working on an assignment related to an insurance claim for the purpose of generating an estimate of vehicle damage.” CCC terminated its license with JA Appraisal on Oct. 26, 2018.
Tractable was charged with seven counts, including violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, violation of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, violation of the Illinois Trade Secrets Act of 2016, trademark infringement in violation of the Lanham Act, false designation of origin in violation of the Lanham Act, violation of the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and common law fraud.
In September 2022, Tractable was granted a motion to dismiss two of those counts: violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and violation of the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
