Cases & Investigations
Fire Truck Antitrust Litigation

Wolf Popper LLP represents the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, in nationwide antitrust litigation alleging that some of the country's largest fire truck manufacturers and their trade association conspired to inflate the prices of fire trucks and restrict production, forcing municipalities and fire departments to pay substantially more for essential emergency vehicles while delaying the replacement of equipment that communities rely on to keep firefighters and the public safe.

The lawsuits allege that beginning no later than 2016, defendants REV Group, Inc., Oshkosh Corporation (including Pierce Manufacturing, Inc.), Rosenbauer America LLC, and the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers' Association (FAMA) unlawfully coordinated their conduct instead of competing fairly. According to the complaints, the defendants exchanged competitively sensitive information and restricted production, resulting in sharply higher prices, reduced competition, and delivery backlogs that left municipalities waiting years for new fire trucks or other emergency vehicles.

Fire trucks are essential public safety equipment that municipalities cannot simply choose not to purchase. According to the complaints, as prices increased and delivery times grew longer, many cities and fire departments were forced to delay replacing aging emergency vehicles, keep older vehicles in service longer than planned, and divert taxpayer resources to cover rising costs. Plaintiffs allege that these delays and increased costs not only strained municipal budgets but also threatened public safety by making it more difficult for fire departments to maintain modern, reliable emergency response fleets.

Wolf Popper represents the City of Raleigh in seeking to recover damages under the federal antitrust laws and applicable state laws for the alleged overcharges paid as a result of the defendants' conduct.

Multiple lawsuits filed by municipalities and other public entities around the country have been consolidated for coordinated pretrial proceedings in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The litigation remains in its early stages, and the plaintiffs recently filed a consolidated amended complaint setting forth the allegations against the defendants.

If your municipality, county, fire district, or other public entity purchased fire trucks or other fire apparatus and experienced substantial price increases or extended delivery delays, Wolf Popper would like to hear from you. Contact us for a free, confidential evaluation of your potential claims.
 

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