$98 Million in Settlements Reached in PVC Pipe Price-Fixing Litigation

Claims Process to Come

A significant construction-related antitrust case is moving through the federal courts and is worth watching, particularly, as many of our clients and friends may be entitled to recover.

THE PRICE FIXING ALLEGATION AND SCOPE OF THE SETTLEMENT 

In re PVC Pipe Antitrust Litigation, plaintiffs allege that major PVC pipe manufacturers used a subscription pricing service to exchange competitively sensitive information and inflate the prices of PVC pipe and fittings nationwide from January 2020 through May 2026, a period that saw unusually sharp and sustained price increases in PVC products.

Two new settlements were announced recently: the Atkore defendants agreed to pay $64 million, and the Northern Pipe and Vinyltech defendants agreed to pay $34 million. These follow an earlier settlement with Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), the publisher of the pricing benchmark at the center of the case. The litigation continues against the remaining manufacturer defendants, so the $98 million announced to date may not be the end of the story.

The settlement classes are notably broad and include both distributors that bought directly from manufacturers and businesses that purchased PVC pipe or fittings through supply houses and other resellers.  Given how widely PVC runs through plumbing, electrical, utility, and site work, many contractors, subcontractors, municipalities, and developers that bought PVC products during this six-year window are potential class members, and many will have paid the alleged overcharge without knowing.

THE CLAIMS PROCESS

No claims process is open yet, but the case is entering an important phase. Class members who wish to exclude themselves from the new settlements and preserve their own claims against the settling defendants must act by August 7, 2026; those who do nothing remain in the class and keep their right to share in any eventual distribution if they submit a valid claim. The court will hold a fairness hearing on September 15, 2026, and class members will later be notified of the opportunity to file claims. Companies that made meaningful PVC purchases since 2020 would be well served to keep their purchase records intact, since documentation of purchase volume will likely determine any recovery.

We will continue to monitor this litigation. If you have questions about the case or how it might apply to your business, feel free to contact Ken Rubinstein, Chair of our Construction Law and Litigation Practice at [email protected] or Michael S. Smith, Managing Partner and Co-Chair of our Antitrust & Competition Practice at [email protected].