LOS ANGELES – The county is suing a private equity firm and three fire truck manufacturers, alleging they consolidated the fire truck market through anticompetitive deals and unfair practices – driving up prices, restricting choice, and delaying deliveries to fire departments, including the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
County Counsel Dawyn R. Harrison filed the lawsuit on behalf of the county, its fire department, and the people of the State of California. The defendants are American Industrial Partners, REV Group, Oshkosh Corporation, and Boise Mobile Equipment, the County Counsel’s office said.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants violated state and federal antitrust laws and California unfair competition laws by consolidating the market through “a series of anticompetitive mergers, acquisitions and other unfair practices” that “sharply inflated the cost of fire trucks and parts to fire departments nationwide, including the L.A. County Fire Department,” the County Counsel’s office said…