A lawsuit has recently been filed that claims that packaged ice producers violated federal antitrust laws and harmed others by inflating the price of cubed, crushed, block and dry ice sold in the U.S. and Canada. The lawsuit seeks class action status.
The packaged ice producers include Reddy Ice Holdings Inc., based in Dallas; West St. Paul, Minn.-based Arctic Glacier International Inc., and its corporate parents in Canada; and Home City Ice Co., a privately held company in Cincinnati, Ohio.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs are the largest manufacturers of packaged ice in the U.S. and Canada. Sales of packaged ice are about $1.8 billion annually, split in half by third-party manufacturers and in-house ice machines. The three defendants make up about 70 percent of the manufacturer sales, the lawsuit says.
Among the allegations is that the companies divided up the packaged ice market so they wouldn't compete with each other. The lawsuit claims Reddy Ice sells its products in the sunbelt states from Florida to Arizona and in the northwestern U.S.; Arctic Glacier works in the central and northeastern states and California; and Home City dominates markets in the Midwest states of Illinois, Ohio and Indiana.
"There is virtually no overlap between the geographic markets in which each Defendant operates," the lawsuit claims. "Defendants agreed not to compete head to head in any of the markets in which one of them was dominant."
The scheme reduced or eliminated price competition throughout the U.S. or Canada, the lawsuit says.
IF YOU ARE A DIRECT PURCHASER* OF PACKAGED ICE PRODUCTS FROM ANY OF THE ABOVE COMPANIES (Reddy Ice Holdings Inc., Arctic Glacier International Inc., Home City Ice Co) YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO CONTACT OUR LAW FIRM NOW TO PROTECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS.
*DIRECT PURCHASORS INCLUDE GAS STATIONS, GROCERY STORES, AND CONVENIENCE STORES THAT PURCHASED PACKAGED ICE PRODUCTS DIRECTLY FROM ANY OF THE DEFENDANTS.
ANY PURCHASE FROM Jan. 1, 2002 TO THE PRESENT MAY QUALIFY.
Audet & Partners represents individuals, governmental entities, small businesses and institutional shareholders in product liability, tort, negligence, consumer, construction defect, investment fraud, securities, insider trading, antitrust, environmental, whistle blower, aviation and employment cases. In recognition of their outstanding abilities and commitment to the legal profession over the years, the firm and its members have served as Court-appointed Plaintiffs’ Counsel in dozens of federal and state cases throughout the United States.
