Construction Equipment Rental Antitrust Litigation
Background
The U.S. market for construction equipment rental is substantial and growing. Individuals and companies often rent rather than purchase the equipment they need for construction projects because renting is usually more affordable, especially for smaller companies or for short-term projects. Renting also allows companies to access newer, more up-to-date equipment models.
Beginning in at least 2021, the largest construction equipment rental companies substantially raised rental prices and have kept them at an elevated level since. The lawsuit alleges that these rental equipment companies coordinated with Rouse Services LLC, and Rouse’s parent, RB Global, to restrain competition and share competitively sensitive information in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The Defendants agreed to exchange competitively sensitive, non-public data, such as rental invoices and real-time inventory data, to coordinate their pricing through Rouse in order to maximize rental rates. Rouse launched its Rental Insights (“RRI”) product in 2011. Since then, the number of companies using its system has increased to approximately 400, including all major industry players and at least 60% of the North American rental equipment market.
The lawsuit alleges that not only does Rouse collect competitively sensitive information from all its clients – which it uses to set prices across rental companies – it also explicitly tells rental companies who else is sharing their data and which pricing strategies they are employing. One rental equipment defendant executive admitted: “We’re all using the same data.” Another explained that Rouse “essentially standardized a lot of price competition in the industry.”
The lawsuit alleges that the construction equipment rental industry is particularly susceptible to antitrust conspiracies due to increasing consolidation within the industry. As the dominant players holding the majority of market share for construction equipment rentals, the rental equipment company defendants dictate the prices offered to individuals and companies who rent construction equipment.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on April 17, 2025, and is captioned Kris Swanson Construction LLC v. RB Global, Inc.; et al., Case No. 1:25-cv-04236.
Do you rent construction equipment?
If you rent or have rented construction equipment since March 31, 2021 and are located in the United States, please contact us.
CONTACT
If you would like to discuss your legal options, please contact Steve Teti or Joe Bourne at sjteti@locklaw.com, jcbourne@locklaw.com, or at 612-339-6900.