On October 11, 2008, Malkinson & Halpern, P.C. filed a nationwide price-fixing class action in Chicago, IL, on behalf of its client, a commercial chemical supplier, and other direct purchasers of potash.

The suit alleges that the world’s primary manufacturers of potash conspired to artificially elevate the price of potash sold from at least July 1, 2003, to the present. Potash is used in the manufacture of fertilizers and has other industrial applications.

Under federal statutes, direct purchasers from members of price-fixing cartels are entitled to a variety of relief, including triple damages and attorneys' fees. It is generally irrelevant that a direct purchaser may have passed the non-competitive pricing on to their customers, as the law will consider the purchaser to have been victimized and damaged by its own overpayment.

Customarily, our price-fixing clients are family-owned or other privately held companies. Malkinson & Halpern, P.C. handles this type of litigation on a contingent basis in which the only attorneys fees and cost reimbursements we are paid are those approved by a judge and paid from proceeds of any favorable settlement or verdict

Please contact John R. Malkinson if you/your company were a direct purchaser of potash during the above-stated period of time and have questions to ask or pricing/purchasing information to share. For a list of similar cases the firm has participated in, click here.