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Deere & Co agrees to pay $99 million to settle ‘right to repair’ lawsuit

A person walks on an X9 1100 combine at the John Deere booth during the CES tech show, Jan. 6, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

A person walks on an X9 1100 combine at the John Deere booth during the CES tech show, Jan. 6, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
By  WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
Updated 1:04 AM GMT+9, April 8, 2026
Comments 25

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NEW YORK (AP) — Deere & Co. has agreed to pay $99 million as part of a settlement that would resolve a class action lawsuit accusing the farm equipment giant of monopolizing repair services.

The Moline, Illinois-based manufacturer, which does business under the John Deere brand, has faced a handful of “right to repair” complaints over the years. The deal announced Monday — which still needs final approval from the court — would settle a 2022 lawsuit that accused the company of withholding repair software and conspiring with authorized dealers to force farmers to use their services for repairs, when they could otherwise fix tractors and other equipment themselves or use independent alternatives.

The plaintiffs alleged that meant Deere and its dealers could charge higher, “supracompetitive” prices and reap benefits from an “unlawfully restrained” market, per court filings.

Deere has continued to deny any wrongdoing, and maintained Monday it’s dedicated to supporting customers’ ability and access needed to repair their equipment. But the company agreed to the settlement “to move forward and remain focused on what matters most — serving our customers,” Denver Caldwell, vice president of aftermarket and customer support, said in a statement.

Under the proposed agreement, filed in federal court in Illinois, the $99 million would go into a settlement fund for class members who paid Deere or its authorized dealers for large agriculture equipment repairs between Jan. 10, 2018 until the date of the deal’s preliminary approval.

The company also agreed to additional injunctive relief, aimed at strengthening the availability of repair resources and things like diagnostic checks.

Beyond this case, Deere still faces separate litigation from the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC sued Deere in January 2025, at the end of the Biden administration, accusing the company of “unfair practices that have driven up equipment repair costs for farmers while also depriving farmers of the ability to make timely repairs.” Deere at the time said the claims were baseless.

“Right to repair” calls have piled up across sectors over the years, particularly as technology found its way into more and more products workers and consumers rely on. Beyond farm equipment, makers of goods like smartphones and video game consoles have also been accused of withholding tools or creating software-based locks that prevent even simple updates, unless they’re done by a shop authorized by the company — in turn, hampering independent repair businesses. Under public pressure, lawmakers in several states have tried to combat this.
WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
Grantham-Philips is a business reporter who covers trending news for The Associated Press. She is based in New York.

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    1. Comment by CoreyHutton.

      Wow. Selfish Mouth Breathers Telling a Company How To Do Business?

      Welcome To 2026. No Common Sense. LOL!

      • Comment by Franco.

        Scientific instrumentation should be next. When I began my career in mass spectrometry (MS) in the early 1990s, manufacturers provided enough technical information to troubleshoot complex instruments. Over the past 25 years, however, this has changed as scientific instrument companies such as Thermo, Waters, Sciex, Bruker, Leco, and Agilent have shifted toward an “electronic appliance” business model, in which the instrument is essentially a sealed box with no screws or practical way to diagnose its components. These manufacturers of modern MS instrumentation offer no access to diagnostic software, circuit diagrams, or board-level documentation showing test points to identify the faulty circuit board. The service contract model may work for big pharma and large chemical companies, but small colleges with limited budgets must either purchase expensive annual service contracts or pay for repairs as needed, often facing months-long delays before a technician can visit just to diagnose the problem. The right to repair scientific instrumentation is a fundamental part of education in advanced degrees in chemistry, physics, and related fields, yet it has been quenched by the rise of service contracts and the lack of technical information and tools available to instrument owners.

        • Reply by Trunkmonkey.

          Isn't deregulated unfettered capitalism neat? It's important that we don't burden corporations with having to worry about non-essential, superfluous topics like customers and "competition". That way they are able to focus on what's important: taking in as much $$ as possible while at the same time spending as little $$ as possible. And ignoring everything else. Yes, this is sarcasm.

          A quick shout out to Louis Rosman who has led a charge toward enacting laws in all 50 states protecting everyone's right to repair the stuff they buy.

        • Reply by CoreyHutton.

          Isn't It Naptime At Kindergarten? LOL!

      • Comment by snowyman052.

        Anyone that has worked for this company knows that their statement about moving forward to keep serving the customers is a load of BS. The decisions that come from the Crystal Palace (corporate headquarters on the edge of Moline) are made with the almighty dollar in mind. Squeezing money from hardworking farmers that really don't have any to spare is unconscionable and par for the course for Deere. That is why they laid off thousands of workers and closed plants, moved jobs to central and south america in order to bring in more profit despite their claims of losing millions in slower sales. This is just another example of corporate greed and the settlement should have been for much more. Not allowing competion in the marketplace to allow farmers to find the best deal or make repairs themselves is pure monopolism.

        • Reply by CoreyHutton.

          Fun Fact: Customers Are Just Normal People AKA Wastes Of Lives. LOL!

      • Comment by Reuelz.

        This is a complicated topic, not just the 'right' to turn a wrench on your tractor or avoiding big companies charging exorbitant repair prices. The schematics and software required to repair modern machines contain information that competitors can use unfairly to steal intellectual property and processes. Such information can also be used inappropriately, opening the company to damage and injury claims. Reasonable people, hopefully the majority, should be able to find a fair middle ground.

        • Reply by startraveler68.

          Farm equipment is an even more niche market than cars, and the consumers are generally pretty knowledgeable and talk to one another. The incentive is greater to counterfeit consumer goods with broader appeal such as designer clothes, handbags, watches, etc.

        • Reply by startraveler68.

          What a wonderfuly self-contradictory statement. The customer is the most important part of the equation. That's how capitalism works, and has for over 400 years. A producer that doesn't meet consumer demand isn't going to be producing for very long. The auto industry in the US learned that one the hard way back in the 1970s.

          Now that we've sorted out capitalism, let's work on capitalization ;-)

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