Corporate & Securities Law

LEVITT & KAIZER Files Amended Class Action Complaint on Behalf of Indirect Purchasers in In Re Packaged Ice Antitrust Litigation

By Matthew S. Wild

On September 15, 2009, LEVITT & KAIZER and THE LAW OFFICES OF MAX WILD (interim lead counsel for the class) and THE PERRIN LAW FIRM (liaison counsel) filed an amended class action complaint seeking recovery on behalf of packaged ice consumers in 47 states and the District of Columbia.  The amended complaint provides further details of the conduct of defendants Reddy Ice, Arctic Glacier and Home City Ice that were not available when the original complaint was filed.  As the amended complaint explains,

“[t]his action arises from a long-standing agreement among defendants ? producers of packaged ice in the United States and Canada, which have a combined market share of nearly 70 percent — not to compete with each other. In furtherance of their cartel, defendants agreed to, and did in fact, fix and inflate prices, allocate territories and customers, acquire competitors, refuse to compete and otherwise commit a variety of unlawful and anticompetitive acts. The purpose and effect of the cartel has been to fix, raise, maintain and stabilize the prices paid for ice sold in plastic bags or large blocks (?packaged ice?) throughout the United States. Evidence of the existence of the conspiracy includes but is not limited to admissions made by participants in the conspiracy, a guilty plea by one of the defendants to a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, defendants? suspension of officers who they believe may have participated in the cartel, defendants? attempts to intimidate and bribe a whistleblower and economic behavior that would have been inconsistent with each defendant?s self-interest or implausible in the absence of the conspiracy.”

The amended complaint is available here: Ice Amended Complaint

The defendants have 60 days to respond.

Full post as published by Antitrust Commentary on September 17, 2009 (boomark / email).