Fourth Circuit Overturns Antitrust Conviction For Bid Rigging In Dual Distribution Case

On December 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a Sherman Act § 1 criminal conviction for bid rigging, but affirmed related mail and wire fraud convictions.

The case, U.S. v. Brewbaker, involved two companies bidding for North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) aluminum-structure projects: Contech Engineered Solutions (Contech), a corrugated steel and aluminum pipe and plate manufacturer, and Pomona Pipe Products (Pomona), which was also Contech's distributor and exclusive dealer in North Carolina. As previously discussed on this blog, DOJ alleged that Contech, through its employee Brent Brewbaker, communicated with Pomona to ensure that Contech would submit bids to NCDOT that were higher than Pomona's bids. Specifically, Contech would ask Pomona for its anticipated NCDOT bid prices and would use those prices to calculate its own, intentionally higher bids. This enabled Pomona to win the contracts for aluminum-structure projects.