Body Shop Alleges Paint Price Fixing

A Laguna Hills body shop has filed a lawsuit against DuPont Co., PPG Industries Inc. and three other paint makers that are under federal investigation for alleged price fixing.

Autobody by Caldwell Inc. did not make any specific allegations in its suit, which was filed Tuesday. Relying on published reports about the federal probe, the suit alleged that the five paint companies have conspired since January 1996 to fix prices and restrain trade in the automotive refinishing industry.

“I think this [lawsuit] is one of what will ultimately prove to be a multitude of cases,” said Solomon Cera, a San Francisco lawyer representing Autobody. He said he was aware of one other civil lawsuit making similar claims.

All five companies named in the complaint, which also includes Sherwin-Williams Co., BASF, and Akzo Nobel, have been under criminal investigation for alleged price fixing by the Justice Department since at least January, when antitrust enforcers subpoenaed records. Autobody’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Newark, N.J., seeks class-action status.

The conspiracy “consisted of an agreement among the defendants, the substantial terms of which were to fix, raise, stabilize and maintain at artificially high levels the prices they charged for automotive refinishing products sold in the United States and throughout the world,” the suit said.

Autobody’s complaint seeks unspecified damages and asks a judge to declare that the companies engaged in unlawful restraint of trade. It alleges that the five manufacturers control 89% of the market for automotive refinishing products.

A spokesman for Pittsburgh-based PPG, John Ruch, said he could not comment on the lawsuit. He said that the company has cooperated with investigators but has not heard from them since January.

DuPont, based in Wilmington, Del., has not seen the lawsuit and has cooperated with the Justice Department, said spokesman Irv Lipp.

BASF spokesman David Elliott did not comment on the lawsuit.