AGCO Pursues Appeal in Repair Case

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- AGCO has asked a federal court to allow what is a rare appeal in an ongoing right-to-repair lawsuit brought against John Deere by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, after a judge ruled in August that Deere would have access to confidential business information from competitors.

AGCO filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois at the end of last week, asking the court to certify an Aug. 8, 2025, opinion and order on the data question. Doing so would allow AGCO to file for interlocutory appeal.

Interlocutory review is an appeal of a non-final court order while other parts of a case are pending. Such an appeal is a rare exception to the final judgement rule that typically requires parties to wait until entire cases are resolved before filing appeals.

The district court ruled Deere has the right to access documents obtained by the FTC as part of its investigation into allegations that the company has illegally monopolized the farm equipment repair market by not allowing farmers to make specific repairs to their own tractors and other equipment.

Deere was granted access to what CNH Industrial, Kubota and AGCO have called the "crown jewels" of sensitive business information including pricing data, financial reports and sales information. The same data would then be given to the 16 farmer plaintiffs in another ongoing lawsuit.

AGCO wants to be allowed to file an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, asking for review on whether the district court's order was legal.

"The court did so not applying the heightened protections traditionally afforded under (federal rules)," AGCO told the district court on Sept. 19, 2025, "but by invoking a generalized fairness-based rationale."

AGCO goes on to say, "No appellate court has addressed these questions. As the court acknowledged, 'the only decision' addressing objections by non-parties to the disclosure of information already produced to the government through compulsory process is a special master's report and recommendation denying two motions to modify an existing protect order in a trial-level merger case."

AGCO wants an appeals court to answer what rules govern the disclosure of government-held, non-party materials.

"Immediate review will materially advance both the FTC action and the MDL (multi-district litigation) by resolving that standard now, before AGCO's most sensitive financial and dealer information is released to Deere and the MDL plaintiffs, disclosure that cannot be reversed once made," AGCO told the court.

"The need for review is especially acute for AGCO, a limited-purpose intervenor whose sole interest is the protection of confidential information it provided under compulsory process."

In ordering the release of the data, the court said an existing confidentiality agreement in the case would protect the companies' interests against misuse of the information. The agreement limits who can view the documents, requires secure handling and mandates destruction once the court case is resolved.

The court ruled previously that Deere would not have to provide a database to the Federal Trade Commission, attorneys general for Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona and Michigan, as well as a group of farmer plaintiffs in the cases.

That dataset includes a comprehensive spreadsheet that aggregates financial metrics including dealer profitability, revenues from parts sales and repair services, customer pricing, operating returns, market share, cost absorption and incentives.

To date, the lawsuits against Deere have alleged the company monopolized the repair-service market for Deere agricultural equipment with onboard central computers known as ECUs.

After the Biden administration sued Deere, the company issued a rare response to the FTC action and vowed to defend itself "vigorously." The FTC lawsuit asked the court to make available to owners of large tractors and combines, as well as independent repair shops, access to Deere's "fully functional Service ADVISOR repair tool and any other repair resources available to authorized dealers."

The FTC also asked the court for a permanent injunction against the company.

The FTC lawsuit came about because of an investigation by the Biden administration that began in 2022 when the National Farmers Union and state-level farmer unions filed a complaint with the FTC.

The FTC lawsuit attempts to bring four counts against John Deere, including monopolization of the restricted repair services market, using an unfair method of competition in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act, as well as violations of the Illinois Antitrust Act and the Minnesota Antitrust Law.

The farmer plaintiffs from across the country have alleged Deere violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and seek damages for farmers who paid for repairs from Deere dealers beginning on Jan. 12, 2018, to the present.

Read more on DTN:

"Deere Gets Access to Competitor Data," https://www.dtnpf.com/….

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

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