HVAC Manufacturers Hit with Three Additional Price Fixing Lawsuits

DETROIT — Three newly filed federal antitrust lawsuits are putting the HVAC industry’s recent pricing practices under intense scrutiny, alleging that major manufacturers conspired to inflate equipment prices beginning in 2020 and continuing through the present.

In the first lawsuit, Isom v. Trane Technologies, et al, filed April 20, Richard Isom is a Florida contractor whose Air Tech Services operates in and around Manatee County. The second suit, Precision Plumbing, Electric, Heating & Cooling, Inc. v. Robert Bosch LLC et al, was filed by the West Fargo, North Dakota-based contractor on April 21. And the third suit, Safford's Heating, Cooling and Refrigeration v. Robert Bosch, LLC, was filed by the Findlay Lake, New York-based contractor on April 22. 

The complaints, all filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, target several of the industry’s largest OEMs, including Bosch, Carrier, Trane, Daikin, Lennox, Rheem, AAON, and Johnson Controls, along with affiliated entities. 

These actions come just one month after the initial complaint filed by consumer plaintiff Alyssa Berg in Berg v. Robert Bosch. All the cases seek class-action status on behalf of purchasers who allegedly paid artificially high prices for HVAC equipment.

According to the complaints, the defendants collectively control more than 90% of the U.S. HVAC equipment market and used that market concentration to coordinate repeated price increases across residential and commercial product categories. The lawsuits claim defendants exchanged competitively sensitive information, engaged in private meetings, and used public statements to signal pricing intentions to one another.

"Between January 2020 and the present, HVAC Equipment prices rose by approximately 53.5%, far outpacing both general inflation and the price of comparable manufactured goods," the Isom v. Trane Technologies complaint states.

The filings also allege that industry organizations and information-sharing platforms helped facilitate the alleged coordination. Specifically cited are price sharing tied to the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), as well as public reporting of manufacturer pricing announcements in trade publication, The ACHR NEWS.

Isom v. Trane Technologies, et al alleges that HVAC manufacturers repeatedly announced the exact percentage of upcoming increases, affected product lines, and effective dates weeks in advance. Plaintiffs argue that in a truly competitive market, such detailed advance notice would invite rivals to hold prices steady or undercut competitors to gain market share.

Instead, the complaint alleges that from January 2020 to the present, competing manufacturers routinely responded within days or weeks by issuing nearly identical increases on similar product categories through the same publication. The filing cites more than 40 such announcements and says the recurring pattern of rapid follow-on increases, clustered in narrow percentage ranges, suggests coordinated behavior rather than independent pricing decisions. These allegations remain unproven and have not been tested in court.

Manufacturers publicly attributed recent price hikes to pandemic-era supply chain disruptions, rising raw material costs, new efficiency regulations and the refrigerant transition under the AIM Act. However, the lawsuits argue those factors were used as cover for price increases that exceeded what normal market conditions would justify.

The contractor-filed lawsuits are especially notable because it broadens the challenge beyond consumers, signaling that trade professionals who purchase equipment for installation and replacement work also believe they were harmed by alleged overcharges. That could increase the stakes for OEMs and potentially widen the pool of claimants if the cases proceed.

Additionally, Isom v. Trane Technologies takes the unusual step of naming HVAC distributor Watsco as an alleged co-conspirator. That is notable because most antitrust pricing cases focus primarily on manufacturers, while distributors are typically viewed as downstream customers rather than active participants.

Plaintiffs argue Watsco’s scale made it a key player in the HVAC supply chain. The lawsuit notes Watsco is North America’s largest HVAC distributor, handling roughly one-fifth of all U.S. residential HVAC unit distribution. It also details Watsco’s extensive joint ventures with Carrier and its ownership of Gemaire, one of Rheem’s largest distribution channels, alleging those relationships gave manufacturers significant influence over resale pricing.

The complaint further claims Watsco had advance visibility into manufacturer pricing actions, worked closely with OEM partners on pricing implementation, and rapidly passed increases through to contractors and customers. Plaintiffs cite public earnings-call statements in which Watsco executives described benefiting from supplier price increases through higher sales, wider margins, and record profits.

This expands the alleged pricing issue beyond factory gate decisions. If a major distributor is shown to have helped coordinate or accelerate price increases, it would suggest the alleged conduct extended through multiple levels of the supply chain—from manufacturers to distribution—potentially affecting equipment costs paid by contractors nationwide.

No court has determined wrongdoing, and the allegations remain unproven. Defendants are expected to contest the claims, and at least one manufacturer, Daikin, has publicly disclosed the lawsuit while stating it will review the allegations and respond appropriately. Rheem and Carrier previously denied any wrongdoing last month. 

For HVAC contractors, distributors and dealers, the litigation could become closely watched because it touches directly on one of the industry’s biggest pain points since 2020: repeated equipment price increases that compressed margins, complicated quoting, and affected customer affordability.