After a Louisiana court sided with PoolCorp in an anti-trust case against it, both sets of plaintiffs now have appealed.
In August, U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance entered a judgment in favor of the national distributor, after a series of summary judgments essentially caused the case to dwindle away. Shortly after, an appeal was filed by the group of industry professionals who had sued PoolCorp. It was thought the other group of plaintiffs, made up of consumers, might let the decision stand. But they have now filed, as well.
Plaintiffs in the case, which originated in 2011 and whose defendants at one time included the so-called Big 3 manufacturers, alleged that PoolCorp pressured manufacturers not to do business with other distributors, and in other ways engaged in anti-competitive behavior. They accused the Big 3 of cooperating.
The consumer plaintiffs said the alleged behavior artificially boosted prices.
