(The Center Square) – The Shreveport City Council passed a resolution authorizing its city attorney to explore a contract with two Louisiana-based commercial legal firms to investigate potential litigation regarding inflated fire apparatus costs.
Edwards told The Center Square the city has spent more than $10 million on fire apparatus, including ladder trucks and fire engines, during the period covered by the investigation.
The two legal firms are Pettiette, Armand, Dunkelman, Woodley & Cromwell, LLP and Fishman Haygood, LLP.
The two firms will assume the cost of all initial studies and investigation to determine whether the city has a viable claim for damages. In the event it is determined that there isn’t a claim, no reimbursement for the initial studies and investigation will be due, the document said.
The resolution says costs have grown at an alarming rate in the last 10 years, leading to “suspicion, investigation, and now litigation.” The firms will advise and represent the city in connection with the potential litigation.
If entered into, the contract would pay those firms a contingency fee, a payment arrangement where a lawyer only gets paid if they successfully win or settle the case, Edwards said, adding that the city is not spending any money in this action.
The contingency fee is 30% of any “gross recovery,” according to city documents.
Several municipalities nationwide have filed antitrust litigation against fire truck manufacturers in federal court over alleged price-fixing, claiming that anticompetitive practices caused significant price increases and delivery delays, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters.
Shreveport’s resolution names these manufacturers: Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Associations, OshKosh Corporation, REV Group, Inc., Rosenbauer America, LLC, and Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc.
It hasn’t been decided which court Shreveport’s case may be filed in, Edwards said, but that decision would likely happen fairly soon, perhaps within the next 30 days.
