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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

In Re: Domestic Drywall Antitrust Litigation

MDL No. 2437

and

13-MD-2437

The Court has approved a distribution in the Domestic Drywall Direct Purchaser matter and we have attached a copy of the order to the Courts Documents page for your review. Therefore, we are unable to make any changes to your distribution payee or amount.   The initial distribution is scheduled for February 7, 2020 and we need you to allow at least 10-business days for the check to arrive at your address. 

 If you purchased gypsum wallboard between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2013, a class action settlement may affect you.

If you purchased gypsum wallboard between January 1, 2012 and June 16, 2016, distribution of several prior class action settlements may affect you. We issued Court-ordered notices in this case informing Class Members of settlements with various defendants on behalf of direct purchasers of Wallboard. All of those settlements have now received final approval from the Court, and the net settlement funds will be distributed to class members after claim forms have been submitted and reviewed. 

“Wallboard” refers to paper-backed gypsum wallboard and is also known as drywall or plasterboard.  The lawsuit alleges that CertainTeed Gypsum, Inc., USG Corporation, United States Gypsum Company, New NGC, Inc., Lafarge North America, Inc., Eagle Materials, Inc., American Gypsum Company LLC, PABCO Building Products, LLC, TIN, Inc., and Georgia Pacific LLC (collectively, the “Manufacturers”) participated in a conspiracy to raise, fix, maintain or stabilize prices of Wallboard in violation of federal antitrust laws.  The Defendants deny that they violated the antitrust laws and have asserted defenses to the claims in this lawsuit.  The Court has not determined who is right or wrong, except that the Court previously granted CertainTeed’s motion for summary judgment.  However, the Court has found that Plaintiffs submitted sufficient evidence to allow their claims regarding the alleged conspiracy to move forward against American Gypsum, Eagle Materials, NGC and PABCO.

You may have received prior notices regarding this lawsuit, including settlements with Lafarge for approximately $21 million, TIN for $5.25 million and cooperation, and with USG Corporation, United States Gypsum Company, and USG Corporation’s former subsidiary L&W Supply Corporation (collectively, “USG”) for $39.25 million and cooperation.  The District Court granted final approval of the TIN and USG settlements on August 20, 2015 and granted final approval of the Lafarge Settlement on December 7, 2016.  Lafarge, TIN and USG have been dismissed from the lawsuit.  More information about the Lafarge, TIN and USG settlements can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions section as well.  The Court’s opinions and orders can be found in the Court Documents section of this website.

If you purchased Wallboard in the United States directly from any of the Manufacturers from January 1, 2012 through June 16, 2016, you may be a member of one the settlement classes in the case. The combined settlements in this case are approximately $190.7 million. Co-Lead Counsel intends to ask the Court to distribute the settlement funds, after reduction for any court-approved attorneys’ fees, expense reimbursements, and service awards to the class representatives, to the members of the settlement classes. While the plan of allocation is described in more detail in the Notice, the settlement funds will generally be distributed pro rata based on Wallboard purchases from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2013, plus some limited payments to class members who only purchased Wallboard after December 31, 2013. Co-Lead Counsel will also ask the Court to award attorneys’ fees of no more than 33 1/3 % of the combined settlements, reimburse expenses of no more than $4 million, and pay service awards of up to $75,000 for each of the class representatives.

Filing a Claim:

In order to receive money from the settlements, you must complete and sign a Claim Form and return it by First-Class Mail, postmarked no later than November 15, 2018, or as a scanned attachment to an email, sent no later than November 15, 2018. If you fail to submit your Claim Form, or submit it after November 15, 2018, you may not receive any money in connection with the direct purchaser settlements.