International ice conspiracy? That's the claim in a federal lawsuit

Last update: March 18, 2008 - 10:42 PM

An alleged no-compete agreement between three of the nation's largest ice producers has created a chilling effect for competitors and burned customers, attorneys for a Wisconsin-based convenience store claim in a federal lawsuit filed this week.

Ridge Plaza Inc. of Milwaukee filed the class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, claiming that an "international conspiracy" exists between three major ice distributors to violate federal antitrust laws by fixing prices for packaged cubed, crushed, block and dry ice in the United States and Canada.

Attorneys for Ridge Plaza argue that the companies secretly committed to anticompetitive practices to fix, raise or stabilize packaged ice prices in the $1.8 billion industry, which divided the United States into three major regions for each of the companies to be the dominant ice distributor. The lawsuit alleges that the companies agreed not to compete head-to-head in any of the markets claimed by one of the companies, eliminating competitive pricing for the benefit of customers such as Ridge Plaza.

The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division is also looking into possible anticompetitive practices, the suit says.

It seeks to define members of the class as any person or business who bought ice from the named defendants from 2002 to present. Companies named include North America's largest ice company, Dallas-based Reddy Ice Holdings Inc., Arctic Glacier Inc. of West St. Paul and Home City Ice Co. of Cincinnati.

ABBY SIMONS

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