Ann Arbor is hauling some of the country’s biggest fire-truck makers into federal court, accusing them of quietly choking production and jacking up prices on the rigs cities depend on to fight fires. The city’s antitrust complaint says ballooning costs and years-long delivery delays have forced departments to keep aging trucks on the road long past their intended lifespans. Ann Arbor is asking for treble damages, injunctions and other remedies, and wants the court to certify a nationwide class of municipalities. City officials frame the lawsuit as a blunt effort to protect taxpayers and frontline public safety.
The city filed its complaint in December in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, naming Oshkosh Corporation and its Pierce Manufacturing unit, REV Group, Rosenbauer America and the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers’ Association as defendants, according to Justia Dockets & Filings. The suit brings claims under the federal Sherman Act along with parallel state antitrust laws. Federal judges in Wisconsin have already moved to consolidate related municipal cases there, a step meant to streamline discovery and pretrial work. The docket also indicates the defendants returned waivers of service in early January.
What the complaint says
The filing walks through specific orders and price hikes to illustrate what Ann Arbor calls the financial hit. One example is an E-ONE Typhoon engine the city ordered on July 7, 2023, for about $830,000 that it says still had not been delivered as of December 2025, according to Fire Law Blog. The lawsuit alleges the defendants control roughly 70 to 80 percent of the U.S. fire-truck market and that backlogs and coordinated pricing helped push many apparatus costs to roughly double, or more, over the past decade. Plaintiffs argue those conditions forced cities to delay replacements, reshuffle budgets and keep older, less reliable trucks in service. Ann Arbor is seeking treble damages and broader relief on behalf of municipal buyers across the country.
Part of a wider municipal push
Ann Arbor’s case is one in a wave of municipal lawsuits filed since mid-2025, stretching from La Crosse and Onalaska in Wisconsin to Milwaukee and Los Angeles County. Together, those complaints paint a picture of consolidation, private-equity rollups and tight industry coordination that plaintiffs say created an oligopoly with the power to limit output and ratchet prices higher, a trend described by The Wall Street Journal. Lawmakers have noticed, holding hearings on how private equity shaped the fire apparatus market as post-pandemic backlogs and costs surged. City attorneys say the growing stack of cases gives municipalities more leverage to push for sweeping fixes instead of one-off settlements.
The manufacturers are not conceding an inch. In local coverage, Oshkosh said, “The allegations in this lawsuit are without merit, and we are defending ourselves in court,” per CBS58. Rosenbauer’s legal counsel told reporters the company strongly disagrees with the claims and will assertively defend itself, according to WIZM. REV Group has likewise said it plans to fight the allegations and has pointed to post-pandemic labor and supply-chain problems as the real culprits behind higher prices and slower delivery…