Cape Composites Files Civil Class Action Lawsuit
17 August 1999
Cape Composites Files Civil Class Action Lawsuit
SAN DIEGO--Aug. 16, 1999--Cape Composites Incorporated, a San Diego based manufacturer of Advanced Composite Materials, announced today that it has filed a civil class action lawsuit against several U.S. and Japanese carbon fiber and prepreg manufacturers alleging illegal anti-competitive practices.The named defendants in the lawsuit include: Hexcel Inc. and Hercules Inc. of the United States, and Toho Rayon, Toray Industries and Mitsuibishi Rayon of Japan, Mitsuibishi's U.S. subsidiaries Grafil, Inc., and Newport Adhesives and Composites, Inc.; Toray's U.S. subsidiaries Toray Carbon Fibers America and Toray Composites America, Inc., and Toho's U.S. subsidiary Toho Carbon Fibers, Inc.
According to Cape's President, Dave Abrams, "Despite the Justice Department's ongoing investigation of anti-competitive practices by the defendants, it is our belief that these practices are continuing today. It is unfortunate that we have to distract ourselves from constructive business activities to initiate litigation, but we do not see any other way of getting a clear message to the defendants that we, as an industry, will not tolerate unfair competition. The composites industry has tremendous growth potential, and the activities which we believe are taking place will stagnate industry growth."
Cape Composites, founded in 1984, manufactures high performance composite pre-impregnated materials, including unidirectional tape, woven fabric prepregs and thin film adhesives made from carbon, glass, and aramid fibers and fabrics coated with epoxy resins. Cape sells materials to commercial markets such as recreational, medical, marine, automotive and infrastructure product manufactures.
Chitwood & Harley, an Atlanta based law firm which specializes in anti-trust and class action litigation, will be the lead counsel for this lawsuit. Cape Composites urges companies which have purchased prepreg or carbon fiber from the defendants between 1993 and July 1999, and which believe they have been damaged by alleged anti-competitive practices to contact Dave Abrams at (619) 450-0113.