LIQUID ALUMINUM SULFATE AND PAYMENT CARD SETTLEMENT PORTAL

LIQUID ALUMINUM SULFATE ANTITRUST LITIGATION

This lawsuit alleges that the leading manufacturers of liquid aluminum sulfate, commonly referred to as “alum,” conspired to allocate territories and/or not to compete for each other’s historical business by rigging bids, allocating customers and fixing/ stabilizing/ maintaining the price of Alum sold in the United States from January 1, 1997 through February 28, 2011 in violation of federal antitrust laws.

Liquid aluminum sulfate, Alum, is a chemical used by municipalities and industries for a variety of purposes including:  Treating drinking and waste water, controlling algae in lakes and ponds, manufacturing paper and fixing dies to textiles. 

DIRECT PURCHASER SETTLEMENT

For those that purchased directly from the defendants, listed below, the current settlement fund is $96,196,800 but could reach a maximum of $113,977,400 if certain stipulations are reached.  More funds are expected if and when additional defendants settle. 

Your agency or company is likely eligible if you purchased Alum in the United States directly from a defendant between January 1, 1997 and February 28, 2011.  The current defendant companies that have settled are:

  • Kemira
  • GEO
  • SH
  • Chemtrade
  • USALCO
  • American Securities, Inc.

Remaining defendants include: General Chemical Corporation, General Chemical Performance Products, LLC, General Chemical LLC, C&S Chemicals, Inc., Southern Ionics, Inc., Frank A. Reichl, Brian C. Steppig, Vincent J. Opalewski, Alex Avraamides, Amita Gupta, Kenneth A. Ghazey, and Milton Sundbeck.

The direct purchaser settlement fund deadline is June 13, 2019. 

INDIRECT PURCHASER SETTLEMENT

Your agency or company is likely eligible for a refund if it purchased Alum from a distributor or direct purchaser, which was manufactured, sold or supplied by a defendant or unnamed co-conspirator between January 1, 1997 through February 28, 2011 for their own use and not for resale in the following states:  Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The current settlement fund is $25,725,000 with more funds expected if and when additional defendants settle.  The current settling defendants for the indirect purchaser settlement include: 

  • GEO
  • Chemtrade
  • Southern Ionics
  • Kemira

Remaining defendants include:  General Chemical Corporation; General Chemical Performance Products, LLC; General Chemical LLC, GenTek Inc., American Securities, C&S Chemicals, Inc., USALCO, LLC, Frank A. Reichl, Vincent J. Opalewski, Alex Avraamides, Amita Gupta, Milton Sundbeck, Kenneth A. Ghazey, Brian C. Steppig, American Securities LLC, Matthew Lebaron, and Scott Wolff.

The proposed claim form for the indirect fund does not require our company to state which defendant manufactured the liquid aluminum sulfate, only the total dollar amount spent on liquid aluminum sulfate during the class period and the state where the purchase was billed and/or shipped to.  Although a claims process for indirect purchasers has recently been proposed, there is no deadline at the present time.

PAYMENT CARD INTERCHANGE FEE SETTLEMENT OPPORTUNITY

On September 18, 2018 an agreement was reached on behalf of all merchants who accepted VISA and/ or MasterCard branded credit or debit cards between January 1, 2004 through January 24, 2019.  The settlement fund will be between $5.54 – $6.24 billion depending on the number of class members who exclude themselves from the settlement.  On January 24, 2019 the court preliminarily approved the new settlement and in the coming months known class members are expected to be mailed notices about their legal rights including their right to exclude themselves from participating in this settlement.  Information about the settlement will also be published in a variety of media outlets.  The tentative deadline for members to exclude themselves is July 23, 2019 with a fairness hearing scheduled for November 7, 2019.

While claim forms are not available yet and potential claimants do not need to sign up with a third-party service in order to participate in any monetary relief, the difficulty may be understanding what information will be provided by the defendants, how that applies to your organization, as well as what additional information can be provided to the court administrator to ensure a complete claim.  No-cost assistance will be available from the court administrator and class counsel during the claim filing period.  If the court grants the settlement final approval and any appeals are resolved, the court will approve a claim process and establish a claim deadline.  Updates about the settlement can be found on the official court authorized settlement website at:  https://www.paymentcardsettlement.com 

 

 

TO SIGN UP FOR CLASS ACTION CAPITAL’S CLAIM MANAGEMENT PLEASE COMPLETE THE BELOW AGREEMENT