By Mike Scarcella
Aug 26 (Reuters) - An electrical contractor has filed an antitrust lawsuit in U.S. court accusing Westlake, Atkore and other major PVC pipe manufacturers of conspiring to overcharge municipal and commercial buyers.
In a proposed class action filed on Friday in federal court in Chicago, plaintiff George Bavolak, owner of Metropolitan Energy Service in Minnesota, alleged the companies began scheming in 2021 to fix prices for pipes that are used for drinking water and to protect bundled wires.
The lawsuit accused Westlake WLK.N, Atkore ATKR.N, Otter Tail OTTR.O, JM Eagle and six other manufacturers of violating U.S. antitrust law by sharing competitively sensitive data with industry publication OPIS to unlawfully coordinate on pricing.
OPIS, a Dow Jones company that provides price and market intelligence to subscribers, was also as a defendant.
Otter Tail in a statement on Monday denied the claims and said it will "vigorously" fight them.
Westlake, Atkore, JM Eagle and OPIS did immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
In 2022, more than $3 billion of PVC municipal water pipes were sold in the United States, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit said the defendants' “historic” profit margins in recent years were driven in part by higher prices stemming from COVID-related disruptions to the supply chain.
Bavolak’s lawyers at plaintiffs firm Lockridge Grindal Nauen in a statement on Monday said "companies that used the COVID-19 pandemic as cover for illegal price-fixing to be held accountable."
Bavolak, who provides residential and commercial electrical services, is seeking class action status for contractors, cities and others that allegedly overpaid for municipal and electrical PVC pipes.
The lawsuit estimated there are at least hundreds of thousands of members in the proposed class action.
Bavolak asserted OPIS facilitated the exchange of “confidential, proprietary, and competitively sensitive data” among the defendants. The manufacturers shared information with OPIS that included future pricing and sales of PVC pipes, according to the lawsuit.
“In the PVC pipe industry, OPIS created the proverbial smoke-filled backroom that enabled the defendants to discuss and signal their pricing activities,” the lawsuit said.
Bavolak seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order against alleged price coordination.
The case is George Bavolak v. Atkore Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 1:24-cv-07639.
For plaintiff: Brian Clark and Kyle Pozan of Lockridge Grindal Nauen
For defendants: No appearances yet
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(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)