The American Antitrust Institute Honors Hunton Andrews Kurth in 2021 Antitrust Enforcement Awards

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP has been recognized by The American Antitrust Institute (AAI) for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice in the organization’s 2021 Antitrust Enforcement Awards. The award is given to firms, teams or individual practitioners that worked on a private civil action that benefited a client, consumers or class and that produced a positive development of policy in the antitrust industry. Hunton is sharing the award with Munger, Tolles & Olsen LLP and Pipkin & Kloppe-Orton LLP.

Hunton, Munger, and Pipkin were jointly recognized in connection to their work for door manufacturer Steves & Sons, Inc., which obtained the first-ever post-merger private divestiture against JELD-WEN, Inc. Steves manufactures molded interior residential doors. In May 2012, Steves entered into a supply agreement with JELD-WEN for the purchase of interior molded doorskins, which comprise the front and back of interior molded doors. Before that, Steves had purchased doorskins from JELD-WEN, CraftMaster Manufacturing, Inc. (CMI), and Masonite. JELD-WEN, CMI, and Masonite also manufactured doors, in competition with Steves.

In October 2012, JELD-WEN acquired CMI and its doorskin manufacturing plant in Towanda, Pennsylvania. Shortly thereafter, Masonite announced that it would no longer sell doorskins to its competitors in the doors market, thus leaving JELD-WEN as the only U.S. supplier of doorskins to door companies like Steves that were not vertically integrated. A few months later, JELD-WEN gave Steves notice that it was terminating the doorskin supply agreement. 

Steves sued JELD-WEN in 2015, alleging that JELD-WEN violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act when it acquired CMI because it substantially lessened competition in the doorskins market. A jury agreed with Steves, finding JELD-WEN liable and awarding substantial damages. After an evidentiary hearing on equitable remedies, the district court ordered JELD-WEN to divest the Towanda plant.  In February 2021, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the divestiture and the past damages award, which after trebling and interest is more than $39 million.

The Hunton Andrews Kurth team included Lewis Powell, Maya Eckstein, John Martin and Dennis Fairbanks. Honorees will be recognized at an awards ceremony on Wednesday, November 10. A full list of honorees can be viewed here.