Lawsuit Accuses Leading Rental Companies and Rouse Services of Price Fixing
An Illinois-based company called Zags Roofing has filed a class-action lawsuit in Chicago federal court claiming that United Rentals, Sunbelt Rentals, Sunstate Equipment, Herc Rentals, Herc Holdings, H&E Equipment Services and RB Global and its wholly owned subsidiary Rouse Services LLC have conspired to artificially increase construction equipment rental prices nationwide in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
The lawsuit accuses Rouse Services and the rental companies named of “designing and implementing an unlawful cartel to increase the price of construction equipment rentals across the nation.” The lawsuit claims that the defendants have conspired in “a price-fixing scheme orchestrated by Rouse” to artificially inflate “the cost of renting construction equipment to individuals and entities” such as the plaintiff (Zags).
The plaintiffs’ lawyers said that potentially hundreds of thousands of members of the proposed class – that is, customers of rental companies who rent equipment – could be affected by what they view as price-fixing.
The lawsuit alleges that equipment rental companies violated antitrust laws by collectively sharing their pricing data with Rouse Services, which the plaintiffs contend provides revenue management software used to set rate benchmarks in the rental industry.
Rouse Services aggregates pricing data received from rental companies in order to report to the industry what average pricing is in particular markets. Subscribers to Rouse Services say the pricing data helps them to determine if their rental sales staff is charging appropriately according to that particular market.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified monetary damages under antitrust law, as well as a court order to break up the alleged price-fixing conspiracy. The case is AXG Roofing LLC v. RB Global Inc et al, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, No. 1:25-cv-03487.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs are: Eric Cramer and Michaela Wallin of Berger Montague; Gary Smith and Swathi Bojedla of Hausfeld; and Natasha Fernández-Silber and Abby Lemert of Edelson.
Respondents consider lawsuit "without merit"
While some of the companies named had yet to respond at press time or declined to comment on pending litigation as a matter of policy, Sunstate Equipment told RER:
“At Sunstate Equipment Co., we are committed to operating with the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and compliance. We take our obligations under antitrust laws seriously and are confident in the integrity of our business practices. We firmly believe these allegations are without merit and intend to vigorously defend ourselves.
“Sunstate remains dedicated to acting ethically and responsibly in all aspects of our business. We appreciate the trust our customers, employees, and stakeholders place in us and will continue providing exceptional products and services.”
RB Global said in a statement that the lawsuit’s “claims are meritless and mischaracterize Rouse Rental Insights’ business practices and the competitive nature of the rental industry. Rouse Rental Insights is purposefully configured to comply with all regulations, including competition and antitrust laws. We intend to vigorously defend the company.”
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.