PVC Pipe Antitrust Litigation
Overview
Lockridge Grindal Nauen (“LGN”) is Co-Lead Counsel for a class of consumers, plumbers, electricians, and other contractors who bought PVC Pipe or PVC Fittings (collectively called PVC Pipe Systems) from a distributor or home improvement store. LGN’s complaint alleges that PVC Pipes and Fittings were price-fixed because the companies that make PVC Pipes (called Converters) conspired with an industry reporting service called OPIS to increase their price starting at least as early as 2020 through the present.
The lawsuit alleges: “PVC Pipe System prices exploded in 2020. The nation’s leading PVC Pipe System manufacturers—the Converter Defendants—blamed the price explosion on COVID-19 and supply chain chaos. They were lying. The astronomical price increases resulted from an elaborate price-fixing Conspiracy, not pandemic disruptions. Working hand-in-glove with industry reporting service, Defendant OPIS, Converter Defendants weaponized temporary shocks to the supply of PVC resin—the primary raw material in PVC Pipe Systems—as cover to orchestrate a brazen price-fixing scheme. The results were staggering: PVC Pipe System prices quadrupled, generating windfall profits while devasting pipe purchasers nationwide.”
The lawsuit further alleges that “OPIS not only facilitated, but it also directly participated in,the fixing of PVC Pipe System prices. Until recently, casual observers might have viewed OPIS as simply providing information exchange of data and signaling between competitors. However, OPIS has produced thousands of pages of handwritten notes, over 8,000 text messages, and thousands of emails from its employee Donna Todd. These documents reveal classic antitrust violations: direct evidence of communications among Converter Defendants’—ostensibly competitors—to agree on and fix PVC Pipe System prices.”
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that the largest distributors of the PVC Pipe Systems in the United States conspired with Defendants to implement the alleged Conspiracy. The Co-Conspirator Distributors—Core & Main, Ferguson, Fortiline, Hajoca, Porter Pipe, and United Pipe—shared a powerful economic interest with the Converter Defendants in artificially inflating PVC Pipe Systems prices: enhanced profits and financial stability.
What are PVC Pipe Systems?
PVC Pipe Systems consist of two necessary and complementary components: (1) PVC Pipes and (2) PVC Fittings that connect PVC Pipe segments into piping systems. The PVC Pipe Systems industry centers on three major applications: (1) Municipal Pipe, for drinking water and sewer systems (blue and green pipes), (2) Plumbing Pipe, for residential and commercial drain, waste, or vent (“DWV”) pipe systems (typically white pipes), and (3) Conduit Pipe, for protecting electrical wires (usually gray pipes). Common PVC Fittings include couplings and unions, elbows, tees, crosses, caps and plugs, adapters and bushings, nipples, and flanges.
Details on Parties and the Complaint
The Class that LGN represents is called the NCSP Class, which stands for Non-Converter Seller Purchasers. In other words, NCSP Class members are those who bought PVC Pipes or Fittings from a distributor or home improvement store, with some minor exceptions, such as consumers, plumbers, electricians, and other contractors.
The Defendants are OPIS, Atkore, Cantex, Charlotte Pipe, Cresline, Diamond Plastics IPEX/Multi Fittings, JM Eagle, National Pipe, Northern Pipe, Otter Tail, Prime Conduit, Sanderson Pipe, Southern Pipe, Westlake (NAPCO), and Vinyltech.
Settlements
The NCSP Class reached a settlement with Defendant OPIS on May 16, 2025. The Court granted Preliminary Approval to this settlement on July 15, 2025. NCSP Co-Lead Counsel are implementing the Court-ordered plan of notice to inform NCSP Class members of the settlement.
How Can I Get Involved?
If you are a consumer, plumber, electrician, or other contractor who purchased PVC Pipes or Fittings, then you may reach out to us to become involved in the case. Click HERE.
Articles & Documents
Second Consolidated Complaint
Leadership Order
Reuters Article – Major PVC pipe makers accused of price-fixing in contractor’s lawsuit
Bloomberg Article – Atkore, Other Manufacturers Hit With PVC Pipes Price-Fixing Case
Contact
If you feel you may have been impacted and would like to sign up for case updates or for additional questions, please use the form or contact Brian Clark or Simeon Morbey
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