An electrical contractor has filed an antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. alleging price-fixing, accusing several major PVC pipe manufacturers, including Westlake and Atkore, of conspiring to defraud municipal and commercial buyers. The suit, filed as a class action, was filed in federal court in Chicago on Friday. According to Reuters, plaintiff George Bavolak, owner of Minnesota-based Metropolitan Energy Service, alleges that the companies began plotting in 2021 to fix prices for pipes used in drinking water systems and to protect bundled cables.
The lawsuit accuses Westlake, Atkore, Otter Tail, JM Eagle and six other manufacturers of violating U.S. antitrust laws by sharing competitive data through OPIS, an industry publication, to illegally coordinate pricing. According to Reuters, OPIS, a Dow Jones company that provides pricing and market information to subscribers, was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
In response to the allegations, Otter Tail issued a statement on Monday denying the allegations and saying it would “vigorously” contest them. The complaint notes that over $3 billion worth of municipal PVC water pipe was sold in the United States in 2022 alone, suggesting that the defendants’ substantial profit margins in recent years were due in part to inflated prices resulting from COVID-related supply chain disruptions.
Bavolak’s legal team from plaintiffs’ law firm Lockridge Grindal Nauen stressed the need for accountability, saying that PVC companies “that used the COVID-19 pandemic as a cover for illegal price-fixing must be held accountable.” According to the lawsuit, Bavolak is seeking a class action lawsuit on behalf of contractors, cities and other companies that allegedly overpaid for municipal and electrical PVC pipe.
The lawsuit suggests the proposed class action could potentially include hundreds of thousands of members. Bavolak alleges that OPIS played a key role in facilitating the exchange of “confidential, proprietary and competitively sensitive data” between the defendants. The information exchanged reportedly included future pricing and sales data, which allowed the defendants to coordinate and signal their pricing activities, according to the lawsuit.
Bavolak is demanding unspecified damages and a court injunction to prevent further alleged price-fixing between the manufacturers.
The case is titled George Bavolak v. Atkore Inc. et al.and the case is being heard in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois under case number 1:24-cv-07639.
Source: Reuters
