[Source: Reprinted with Permission from Random Lengths, www.randomlengths.com, March 3, 2006]
Five lawsuits have been filed against eight North American OSB producers alleging that the companies conspired to reduce OSB supplies and fix prices in violation of U.S. antitrust laws.
The suits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of Norwood Sash & Door Manufacturing Co., Sawbell Lumber Co., Columbare Inc.,West Lumber Co., and Frontier Lumber Co. Named as defendants are Louisiana-Pacific, Georgia-Pacific, Weyerhaeuser, Potlatch, Ainsworth, Norbord, J.M. Huber, and Tolko. The suits cover the period from June 1, 2002, through the present. Each is filed as a class action.
The suit filed February 28 by Norwood Sash & Door, Norwood, Ohio, claims that the defendants “combined and conspired to fix, raise, maintain, and stabilize the prices at which OSB was sold in the United States.” It alleges that “...because of the unlawful conduct of the defendants, plaintiff and other class members paid artificially inflated prices for the OSB they purchased from the defendants.”
The Norwood suit states that the producers conspired to reduce the supply of OSB available for sale, during a time of increased demand for the product, by removing production capacity through mill shutdowns; delaying or canceling construction of new OSB mills; buying needed OSB from competitors instead of making it themselves; and having low operating rates at mills. Norbord issued a March 3 press release stating that “the lawsuits are entirely without merit” and that it intends to contest them. Responses from other defendants were unavailable.
Attorneys for the plaintiff Norwood state that the members of the class action across the U.S. could number in the thousands, based on purchases from the manufacturers named in the suit. The Norwood suit seeks treble damages and injunctive relief, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. |