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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Ind. Courts - "Judge widens suit against concrete companies in price-fixing case: Class-action status allows contractors, farmers and do-it-yourselfers to join case"

Jeff Swiatek of the Indianapolis Star has this story today. Some quotes:

The class certification could put pressure on the three remaining defendants to settle rather than risk losing in a jury trial. Under federal law, plaintiffs in the case can seek damages triple the actual overcharges.

The remaining defendants are Irving Materials Inc. (IMI), Builder's Concrete & Supply and Beaver Materials.

Three other defendants in the case -- Shelby Materials, American Concrete and Prairie Material Sales -- have already settled out of court for a total of $24 million. A fourth defendant, Hughey Inc., has filed bankruptcy.

The $24 million in settlement money is being held in a bank account to be distributed to victims, Gilchrist said.

The class is made up of 5,000 direct buyers of ready-mixed concrete, typically sold by the truckload, from the defendants' Central Indiana plants. The class is automatically created from company sales records. Buyers who don't want to take part in the lawsuit can opt out, Gilchrist said.

Buyers include contractors, commercial builders, farmers and do-it-yourselfers. No municipalities are included because they don't buy concrete directly, Gilchrist said.

Plaintiffs claim they were overcharged millions of dollars after suppliers colluded to set inflated prices to charge buyers, a federal crime known as price-fixing.

G. Daniel Kelley Jr., an attorney for IMI, one of the largest concrete suppliers in Indiana, declined to comment on the judge's ruling.

Barker said in her ruling that pursuing the case as a class action conserves judicial resources.

The government also pursued criminal charges against the concrete companies.

In 2005, the U.S. Justice Department slapped concrete giant IMI with what then was the nation's largest antitrust fine in history -- $29 million -- for illegally driving up the price of concrete sold in the Indianapolis area.

A long side-bar to the story provides details on "companies [that] were involved in the conspiracy to fix ready-mix concrete prices."

Here is a copy of Judge Barker's 50-page order, filed 9/9/09. The listing of attorneys in the case begins on 43!

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 10, 2009 09:17 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts