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Charlotte joins lawsuit against chemical company

By Jim Bradley
By Jim Bradley

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The city of Charlotte is trying to join a class-action lawsuit against a chemical company federal investigators claim was involved in manipulating prices of a chemical used in sanitizing drinking water. 

Liquid aluminum sulfate is bought by the ton by cities like Charlotte. 

The city said it believes it was being cheated for more than a decade. 

"They were trying to fix the prices on everything and we were being gamed by them," said Jude Starrett, senior assistant city attorney.   

The city wasn't aware of any of the price-fixing accusations until federal investigators asked for billing documents going back more than a decade, Starrett said.

Shortly after that a top executive from General Chemical Corp. pleaded guilty to a "13-year antitrust conspiracy … to rig bids, restrict competition and raise prices on liquid aluminum sulfate." 

Court documents said a cadre of chemical companies that routinely sold chemicals to municipal water treatment plants like in Charlotte held secret meetings to decide who would win contracts and to keep chemical prices artificially high. 

The city said that as a result it may have been overcharged hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. 

"Every year if you estimate we spend $1 million (on liquid aluminum sulfate) then for this 13-year period, it's conceivable that we spent $13 million on this chemical," Starrett said.

The city still doesn't know how much the overcharges may amount to but whatever the amount, it was local ratepayers who picked up the tab. 

"The amount of money we've been overcharged. It's taxpayers' money," said Charlottean Ruby Simpson.

The city, which is suing for triple damages, said it owes it to customers to try to get the overcharges back.

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