[February 20, 2013]

Jury Awards Plaintiffs $400 Million in Urethanes Class Action Against Dow

A U.S. District Court jury in Kansas City, Kan., today awarded plaintiffs in the urethane price-fixing class action against The Dow Chemical Company $400,049,039, according to Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC. Under antitrust laws, the jury's verdict in In Re Urethane Antitrust Litigation is subject to trebling, to more than $1.2 billion.

"We are extremely pleased with the verdict. This is an excellent outcome for the plaintiffs who were overcharged by Dow and other chemical manufacturers," said Kit Pierson of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.

Cohen Milstein, along with Fine, Kaplan and Black, R.P.C.; Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward P.A.; and Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, P.L.L.C, represent a class of direct purchasers of chemicals used to manufacture polyurethanes. Th plaintiffs complained that they were overcharged by Dow and four other chemical companies as a result of a nationwide price-fixing conspiracy that occurred from 1999 through 2003.

Three other chemical companies - Bayer, BASF, Huntsman International, LLC - previously agreed to settle claims against them for approximately $139 million. A fourth company, Lyondell Chemical Co., was under bankruptcy protection and settled without paying damages.

Cohen Milstein and co-lead counsel Fine, Kaplan and Black had been litigating the case in the U.S. District Court, District of Kansas since 2004. Lead trial counsel during the trial, which began on Jan. 23, were Joe Goldberg of Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward, and Mike Guzman of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, assisted by Kit Pierson of Cohen Milstein and Donald Perelman and Roberta Liebenberg of Fine, Kaplan and Black. Richard Koffman, Christopher Cormier, Sharon Robertson, and Laura Alexander also served on the trial team from Cohen Milstein. Gerard Dever, Matt Duncan, and Paul Costa also served on the trial team for Fine, Kaplan, and Black.

For more information about In Re Urethane Antitrust Litigation, visit http://www.cohenmilstein.com/cases/200/urethanes-polyether-polyols

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