NEWARK, N.J. (Legal Newsline) –The city of Cincinnati is suing manufacturers and distributors of liquid aluminum sulfate over claims of price fixing.
The city, on behalf of itself and those similarly situated, filed the class action lawsuit on Nov. 13 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey against Frank A. Reichl, General Chemical Corp., General Chemical Performance Products LLC, Gentek Inc., and John Does 1-10 for allegedly violating the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act.
The city alleges that the defendants, from Jan. 1, 1997, to July 2010, conspired, combined, and contracted to fix, raise, maintain, and stabilize prices at which liquid aluminum sulfate (alum) would be sold.
Alum is one of the primary chemicals produced and sold by defendants and the city alleges that the defendants colluded to keep prices and demand for alum high. The complaint states that Frank Reichl, a former senior executive at defendant General Chemical Corp., has pleaded guilty to participating in said conspiracy.
"As a result of defendants’ unlawful conduct, plaintiff and the other members of the proposed class paid artificially inflated prices that exceeded the amount they would have paid if a competitive market had determined prices for alum," the complaint states.
The city is seeking a trial by jury and is suing for three times the amount of damages sustained by plaintiff and the class as allowed by law, together with the costs of this action, including reasonable attorneys’ fees; an injunction forbidding defendants to continue any manner of unlawful acts; and any other rewards deemed just by the court.
The city of Cincinnati is represented by Jeffery J. Corrigan, Jeffery L. Kodroff, William G. Caldes, Jeffery L. Spector of Spector Roseman Kodroff & Willis PC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Steven P. Goodin of Graydon, Head & Ritchey, LLP, in Cincinnati, and David H. Fink and Darryl Bressack of Fink + Associates Law in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey case number 2:15-cv-08065-SRC-CLW