Kamloops leads class action over PVC price fixing

The City of Kamloops has launched a class action lawsuit against two dozen companies alleging a price-fixing scheme among Canadian and American manufacturer of PVC pipe during the pandemic.

According to the notice of claim, the pipe makers conspired with the Oil Pricing Information System to hike prices during the COVID-19 pandemic, then hold those prices even as demand fell.

Since prices rose, the city has spent millions on PVC pipes for electrical and water supply, estimating costs have doubled from pre-COVID pricing. The prices weren’t specified in the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, the Oil Pricing Information System and more than a dozen companies secretly conspired to keep prices artificially inflated for years, affecting municipal spending among other consumers in what it estimates is a $3 billion industry in Canada.

“(The pricing information system) purports to provide ‘public transparency’ across supply chains so that ‘all stakeholders can buy and sell’ with confidence. However, in reality (the system) provides a service that has repeatedly been used to manipulate prices,” the notice of claim read.

It follows a similar lawsuit in the U.S., where manufacturers and Oil Pricing Information System were accused by contractors of taking part in the price-fixing scheme. The pricing system has subsequently agreed to a $6 million settlement.

Though no one else has joined the class action lawsuit, it’s open to any local Canadian government that has purchased PVC pipes since January 2021.

Filed on Sept. 26 by the firm CFM Lawyers LLP in Vancouver, the lawsuit must be certified in BC Supreme Court before the class action can proceed.