Carbon black firms sued

AKRON (May 16)—Three more buyers of carbon black have filed suit against three leading suppliers of the material seeking undisclosed damages related to a trans-Atlantic price collusion investigation. The defendants in the carbon black suits—Cabot Corp., Phelps Dodge Corp./Columbian Chemicals Co., and Degussa Engineered Carbons L.P.—already have filed motions seeking to consolidate the pretrial hearings for three separate cases at one site, preferably the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Parker Hannifin Corp., Synaflex Rubber Products Co. and Standard Rubber Products Co. have all filed suit against the three carbon black producers in recent weeks in different venues. They join Technical Industries Inc., which filed earlier. The carbon black investigation, involving officials from U.S., Canadian and European Union competition authorities, began last fall.