Molded Composite Interior Doors May Be Subject to Price Fixing

Both retailers and end consumers are alleging that molded composite interior doors may be subject to a price fixing collusion between manufacturers Jeld-Wen and Masonite. Companies who sell interior molded doors and customers who purchase the doors may have been negatively affected by this possible agreement between Jeld-Wen and Masonite.

Molded composite interior doors are often found on the inside of houses. Doors on the inside of the house don’t need to provide as much security as those on the outside of the house, so interior doors are often made of a lighter material and are made more cheaply than those on the outside of the  house.

A common way of building a less expensive interior door is creating a molded door that is made of composite wood or a wood frame and covering it with a “doorskin” or a shell that makes the door look like a more expensive solid wood door.

Jeld-Wen and Masonite are the two main manufacturers of doorskins and the form of an interior molded door. They are reported to control 85 percent of the molded door market, and are the only makers of door skins that sell to third party makers of doors.

Allegedly, they have been wielding their significant power in the interior molded door market to fix prices and eliminate competition. Customers who purchased molded doors from Jeld-Wen argued in a price fixing class action lawsuit that Jeld-Wen and Masonite had been eliminating competition in the market for years by acquiring smaller manufacturers of molded composite interior doors. The lawsuit alleged this activity took place between 2001 and 2012.

The customers claimed that in 2014, after buying up the competition, Masonite announced they would no longer be selling doorskins to other door manufacturers. Customers argued that this move seemed to be counter to the best interests of Masonite, limiting their market.

The customers in the Jeld-Wen Masonite class action lawsuit claim that this move was evidence that Jeld-Wen and Masonite had colluded to control the market. Allegedly, at this point, Jeld-Wen started to make a cheaper alternative to the doorskins that they then released onto the market for a higher price, effectively controlling the products available on the market and the prices for which they could be sold.

The Federal Trade Commission notes that in most cases, price fixing is illegal because it runs counter to the free market and stifles competition. Additionally, the FTC notes that in many cases, consumers may not know for sure that companies are fixing prices, but they may be able to spot some signs. One of these signs is if a company raises or lowers prices inexplicably or limits their market in a way that seem not advantageous to them, as was allegedly the case when Masonite decided to stop selling door skins to third parties. 

This isn’t the first time that Masonite has faced scrutiny for possible anticompetitive behavior. In 2001, the Department of Justice sued to prevent the acquisition of Masonite by Premdor Inc., another molded door manufacturer.

Join a Free Interior Molded Doors Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you own or work for a company that sold Jeld-Wen and/or Masonite interior molded doors from October 2012 to the present or if you purchased the doors from a retailer, you may have been the victim of an antitrust price-fixing conspiracy. Legal help is available.

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