CEMENT GIANT CRH, Roadstone Wood Ltd and Kilsaran Concrete have increased the price at which they are offering concrete for sale in the Dublin market since their alleged below-cost selling forced the collapse of Goode Concrete earlier this year, it has been claimed before the High Court.
The three companies needed to increase their prices to recoup the losses they had suffered as a result of three years of below-cost selling in which they engaged to remove Goode from the concrete market, it is alleged by Goode managing director Peter Goode. Such practices, it is alleged, relate to the Irish cement market and Dublin Readymix concrete market.
While the defendants appear to be separate entities, they are connected and do not compete with each other on price or on market share, Mr Goode claims.
Those and other claims have been made in affidavits opposing the defendants’ motion to have Goode Concrete provide €1.5 million security for costs of its proceedings accusing the defendants of anti-competitive practices.
The defendants deny the claims and have contended price increases referred to were due to unprecedented increases in energy costs.
The proceedings were before Mr Justice John Cooke yesterday via preliminary applications by Paul Sreenan SC, for CRH/Roadstone, supported by Kilsaran, to have the court strike out “scandalous” material in the affidavits filed by the Goode side opposing the security for costs motion.
The judge will rule on the application tomorrow.
Goode says it is not in a position to provide the €1.5 million security because the conduct of the defendants led to it being forced out of business. It pleads the necessary exceptional circumstances exist to justify no order requiring it to provide security.
The material which the defendants want struck out includes claims of anti-competitive practices by CRH going back two or three decades, including alleged anti-competitive practices in the concrete markets in Dublin and Galway.
The material is contained in detailed affidavits sworn for the Goode side, including from Peter Goode and Tom Goode, chairman of Goode Concrete.
The defendants say the statement of claim in the Goode proceedings is confined to claims of anti-competitive conduct since 2007 and Goode is not entitled to include “hearsay”, “scandalous” and “embarrassing” material relating to alleged anti-competitive practices pre-dating that.
They also plead the statement of claim relates only to the Dublin market while the disputed material in the affidavits also makes claims about practices in the concrete market in Galway. It would be a huge task to reply to this material, they have complained.
Among the claims is that Kilsaran was under the secret control of Irish Cement or CRH plc and there was co-ordinated control of some kind. Goode denies the claims amount to scandalous comment and has argued that if the claims are untrue, it would be a straightforward task for the defendants to simply state that. Goode Concrete ceased trading last February.
In refusing the injunction, Mr Justice Cooke ruled that should Goode succeed in its action, damages would be an adequate remedy.
