Rightline LLC has filed a lawsuit against FMC Corporation alleging unlawful business practices in violation of federal antitrust laws.
The lawsuit is related to FMC’s Distributor Loyalty Programs that paid distributors to exclude or limit its business relationships with generic manufacturers of sulfentrazone, as well as a 2023 campaign by FMC to dump its branded sulfentrazone into the U.S. market through a predatory rebate program that effectively paid customers to purchase FMC’s sulfentrazone product.
Sulfentrazone is a broad-spectrum soil residual herbicide used for eliminating certain weeds in agricultural crops and established turfgrass.
The Complaint alleges that FMC’s practices have resulted in reduced competition by substantially reducing market access for competing producers of generic products that contain the off-patent active ingredient sulfentrazone, causing end-use customers to pay higher prices than those for generic alternatives. This enabled FMC to maintain monopoly power, and Rightline to suffer losses.
These improper actions, as alleged in the Complaint, were taken shortly before FMC announced its intended divestiture of its Global Specialty Products Division.
Rightline filed its complaint as case number 24-cv-0276 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 21, 2024. A copy of Rightline’s complaint may be found at the Court’s website.
Regarding the lawsuit, RightLine CEO Tim Zech states, “It’s time that FMC is held accountable for its trade practices. The agricultural chemical market has for years experienced similar generic avoidance schemes. Syngenta and Corteva are both now in a similar lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission arising from their actions in the agricultural chemical market. Rightline believes that analogous actions by FMC regarding sulfentrazone are similarly reducing competition and increasing prices in the turf and ornamental market.”
Rightline currently has five sulfentrazone containing products available for purchase in the turf and ornamental market as well as a related product containing carfentrazone. These product alternatives may be found on the company website.
