The City of Des Moines is suing more than two dozen companies that sell life-saving apparatus such as fire trucks, alleging they have engaged in illegal and “parasitic” pricing schemes to “reap extraordinary profits” from taxpayers.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, names as defendants REV Group, 14 of its alleged affiliates and 11 other companies that produce firefighting trucks, parts and equipment.
The lawsuit challenges what it calls the defendants’ multi-year, anti-competitive scheme to consolidate and “roll up” markets for critical lifesaving apparatus — fire trucks and the chassis on which they are built — and to impose exclusionary restraints in the market for replacement parts…