US rental market pricing cartel case “could take years”

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The lawsuit filed against five of the largest US equipment rental companies and data provider Rouse Services over alleged price-fixing “could take years” to reach trial, a legal expert involved in the case has told International Rental News (IRN).

Filed by Illinois-based roofing contractor AXG Roofing LLC, the lawsuit names United Rentals, Sunbelt Rentals, Herc Rentals, H&E Equipment Services, and Sunstate Equipment, along with Rouse Services and its owner, RB Global (parent company of Ritchie Bros).

It alleges the defendants conspired to increase rental prices and restrict equipment supply by sharing information through Rouse’s benchmarking platform, in breach of antitrust laws.

However, according to Zachary Caplan, one of the attorneys on the legal team and shareholder of Berger Montagu, the complexity of the US legal system means the case is unlikely to be resolved quickly.

He told IRN; “The US legal system does not move with great speed. We won’t even know where this is going to end up until probably August. If everything goes well, we’d be going into active litigation sometime early next year.”

The first stage will be for a special panel of judges to decide where the multiple cases, currently filed in Chicago, Los Angeles and Iowa, should be consolidated and heard. That process alone could take months, followed by further months of preliminary hearings to determine whether the case can proceed.

“Even if we start early next year, it will probably be several years before we get to a trial,” Caplan added. “You’re looking at something like 2027 or 2028, and even that would be ambitious.”

The lawyer, who specialises in antitrust litigation, said it is not unusual for cases of this nature to stretch on for many years. “We have one now that’s 10 years old and going to trial this August. So 2027 would actually be fast.”