Plaintiffs Accuse Drywall Manufacturers of Price-Fixing

By Sarah Mirando | May 22, 2013

Category: Legal News

By Anne Bucher

drywall class action lawsuit In the U.S., the drywall market is a multi-billion dollar industry that is controlled by just nine manufacturers. In 2012, just as the nation’s housing market began to recover from the recession, the price of drywall increased by as much as 35 percent. Some experts believe this sudden price increase was the result of a coordinated effort from distributors. As a result, many lawsuits have been filed by plaintiffs who are seeking to hold the companies accountable for violating the antitrust laws. Because the demand for drywall in the U.S. is substantial, these price increases have had a huge impact on the construction industry. An average new home in the U.S. will contain more than seven tons of drywall.

Plaintiffs Accuse Drywall Manufacturers of Anti-Competitive Price Fixing

In December 2012, USG Corp. and seven other drywall manufacturers were sued in a drywall price-fixing class action lawsuit. Plaintiffs allege that, starting in September 2011, the companies conspired to fix prices on their drywall products. The plaintiffs argue that the housing crash in 2007 led to a significant drop in demand for drywall. Due to this decreased demand, the companies were able to dramatically increase the price of their product. They would not have been able to sustain such a price increase in a competitive market.

The class action lawsuit accuses the defendants of forming illegal agreements to increase prices and restrict trade. Because the companies coordinated their efforts, the plaintiffs had no reasonable alternative but to purchase the drywall at inflated prices. As a result, these drywall companies have experienced artificially high profits, according to the class action.

The defendants listed in the drywall price-fixing class action lawsuit include:

USG Corp.
United States Gypsum Co.
New NGC Inc.
LaFarge North America
CertainTeed Corp
Georgia-Pacific
American Gypsum Co
TIN Inc. dba Temple Inland
PABCO Building Products

Drywall Price-Fixing Lawsuits Consolidated in a Pennsylvania Federal Court

There are currently several drywall price-fixing lawsuits that are currently pending. Recently, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation approved the consolidation of six class action lawsuits to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Sierra Drywall Systems, a company based in Arizona, is the plaintiff in one of these drywall price-fixing lawsuits. Sierra claims in a class action lawsuit filed in December that, since September 2011, the defendants conspired to raise the price of drywall sold in the U.S. Prior to implementing the price increase, the companies informed their customers that the price of their drywall would increase by 35 percent. Sierra also claims that the companies suddenly ended their practice of submitting job quotes, which allowed customers to lock the price of drywall for the duration of their construction project. The practice of offering job quotes had been the custom of the industry for more than 40 years. The drywall companies put an end to this practice at the same time that they drastically increased the price of drywall.

If you purchased drywall after September 2011, you may have paid inflated prices and may be able to seek compensation by joining a class action lawsuit. To learn more about your legal rights, visit the Drywall Price-Fixing, Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit Investigation. On this page, you can submit information about your drywall purchase and an experienced class action attorney will review your claim for free.