Dow Chemical agrees to pay $835m to settle price-fixing case
Dow Chemical has agreed to pay $835m (£599m) to settle a lawsuit by customers who argued the company had fixed polyurethane prices between 1999 and 2003, although the group denied having done this.
Dow Chemical Co.
$46.27
11:05 11/11/24
The settlement resolves the $1.06bn judgment against the specialty chemicals firm back in 2013.
Dow said on Friday that its position at the US Supreme Court is that the judgment violates class action law in multiple ways, notably with respect to the Supreme Court’s Walmart decision of 2011 and the Comcast decision of 2013.
“While Dow is settling this case, it continues to strongly believe that it was not part of any conspiracy and the judgment was fundamentally flawed as a matter of class action law. Further, the judgment covered alleged legacy activity between 2000 and 2003.
“Dow cooperated with an extensive investigation by the US Department of Justice, which closed its investigation in 2007 without taking any or proposing any action against Dow.”
In January 2013, Dow Chemical went to trial in Kansas City and a federal jury found the company guilty of conspiring to fix prices, imposing a $400m verdict.
However, Dow then appealed to overturn the verdict. This was denied and in May the company was ordered to pay $1.2bn in damages under antitrust law.
The amount was later reduced to $1.06bn.