Thermal Pipe Shields Inc., or TPS, based in Stanwood, Wash., is a maker of pipe support systems that previously had purchased calcium silicate or “calsil” insulation from Johns Manville, which controlled nearly the entire market for that product.
But sales didn’t go anywhere, despite what TPS claimed was its much lower-cost and higher-quality product. The company filed a federal complaint in March 2019 in Denver, alleging that Johns Manville had actively disparaged its industrial insulation and threatened building product distributors with retaliation if they carried it.
On Friday, five years after the initial complaint, a federal court jury found that Johns Manville had a monopoly in the product, had made “anticompetitive” threats to withhold its products from distributors that carried TPS’s competing product and that its actions violated federal antitrust rules.With help from AI, Randy Travis got his voice back.
“As a legal matter, we disagree with the verdict,” said Johns Manville General Counsel Katherine Albery in an emailed statement. “We will carefully evaluate our next steps.”Frustrated by officiating in Game 2 loss to Timberwolves, Nuggets’ Michael Malone concedes: “We lost control of our emotions”