Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—D. Kan.: $835M settlement given preliminary nod in urethane price fixing suit, (Apr 29, 2016)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

The federal district court in Kansas City, Kansas, has preliminarily approved an $835 million settlement agreement, in an action alleging that The Dow Chemical Co. and other companies conspired to fix, raise, maintain, or stabilize the prices for polyether polyol products sold in the United States. Upon preliminary review, the court found the settlement to be sufficiently fair and reasonable (In re Urethane Antitrust Litigation, April 27, 2016, Lungstrum, J.).

Dow has agreed to pay a total of $835 million in cash to the class within 10 business days after the court’s preliminary approval, according to the class plaintiffs’ memorandum in support of their motion for preliminary approval. The class consists of all persons and entities who have not timely excluded themselves from the certified litigation class and who have purchased: (1) propylene oxide-based polyether polyols; (2) monomeric or polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanates (MMDI or PMDI—collectively, MDI); (3) toluene diisocyanates (TDI); (4) MDI-TDI blends or (5) propylene oxide-based polyether polyol systems (except those that also contain polyester polyols), directly from Defendants at any time from January 1, 1999, through December 31, 2003.

The class plaintiffs—including Seegott Holdings Inc., Quabaug Corp., and Industrial Polymers, Inc.—argued that the proposed settlement readily meets the standards for preliminary approval because it was fairly, honestly, and extensively negotiated; disputed questions of law and fact remain; the $835 million guaranteed recovery outweighs the “mere possibility” of additional, future monetary relief; and class counsel believe that the settlement is fair and reasonable. In addition, the class asserted that the Dow settlement is one of the largest ever paid by a single defendant in an antitrust class action, bringing the total recovery in this multidistrict litigation to nearly one billion dollars.

The case is No. 04-md-01616-JWL.

Attorneys: Robert W. Coykendall (Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy, Chartered), Donald L. Perelman (Fine, Kaplan and Black, R.P.C.), Richard A. Koffman (Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll PLLC), Joseph Goldberg (Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward P.A.), Michael J. Guzman (Kellogg Huber Hansen Todd Evans & Figel, PLLC), and Paul D. Clement (Bancroft PLLC) for Seegott Holdings Inc., Quabaug Corp., and Industrial Polymers, Inc. Brian R. Markley (Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP) for The Dow Chemical Co.

Companies: The Dow Chemical Co.; Seegott Holdings Inc.; Quabaug Corp.; Industrial Polymers, Inc.

Cases: Antitrust KansasNews