PVC Pipe Antitrust Litigation

Overview
Lockridge Grindal Nauen (“LGN”) has been appointed co-lead counsel in a lawsuit filed on behalf of purchasers of PVC municipal water pipe and electrical conduit (collectively, “PVC Pipes”).  Prices for PVC Pipes have been historically high for the last several years.  Purchasers of PVC Pipes such as municipalities and contractors have been shouldering the burden of these high prices, paying more for the PVC Pipes they need to complete critical infrastructure and electrical projects. LGN has investigated the markets for PVC Pipes and determined that PVC converters (manufactures) used the COVID-19 pandemic as cover for illegal price-fixing and need to be held accountable.

What Does the Lawsuit Allege?
The lawsuit alleges that Defendants colluded in exploiting the COVID-19 economic crisis by artificially maintaining the historically high pricing brought by the COVID pandemic. Like so many other recent antitrust cases, there is a price reporting firm at the center of Defendants’ conspiracy. Defendants used OPIS as the proverbial smoke-filled backroom to exchange business information, monitor their competitors, and frustrate the dynamics of a competitive market. 

On August 23, 2024, LGN filed a lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of PVC pipes alleging that beginning in or around January 2021, PVC Pipe prices were artificially inflated because of a conspiracy between the price reporting service OPIS and the largest converters of PVC Pipes.


What are PVC Pipes?
PVC municipal water pipe is PVC pipe that carries the municipal, potable (i.e., drinking) water supply from reservoirs, lakes, or rivers to treatment facilities and from there to water mains that distribute water throughout the community. PVC electrical conduit is PVC pipe used to protect bundled wires.

Details on Parties and the Complaint
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on August 23, 2024, and is captioned Bavolak v. Atkore, Inc. et al, Case No. 1:24-cv-07639.  The Defendants are Oil Price Information Service LLC (“OPIS”), Atkore, Inc., Cantex, Inc., Diamond Plastics Corporation, IPEX USA LLC, JM Eagle, National Pipe and Plastics, Inc., Otter Tail Corporation, Prime Conduit, Inc., Southern Pipe, Inc. (Southern Pipe), and Westlake Corporation.

Did you purchase PVC municipal water pipe or electrical conduit after January 2021?  If so, please contact us.

Articles & Documents
Amended Complaint
Leadership Order
Reuters ArticleMajor PVC pipe makers accused of price-fixing in contractor’s lawsuit
Bloomberg ArticleAtkore, 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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