Summary Sheet- RFCA SUMMARY

CITY OF TEMPE
Meeting Date: 5/14/2026  
REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION
Agenda Item: 7C3
ACTION:  Adopt a resolution authorizing the City of Tempe’s participation in Fire Apparatus Antitrust 
Multi-District Litigation and retention of legal counsel for those purposes. (Resolution No. R2026.52)
FISCAL IMPACT:  The representation in the Fire Apparatus Antitrust Multi-District Litigation (Fire 
Apparatus Antitrust MDL) is being retained on a contingency basis for fees and costs. For that reason, 
there should not be negative budget implications, but instead, a potential for the City to recover funds.
RECOMMENDATION:  Approve Resolution No. R2026.52.
 
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:  In the last four to five years, the prices for firetrucks have 
skyrocketed, and delivery timelines are now approaching three to four years or longer. After a months-
long investigation, Los Angeles County—represented by the law firms Simonsen Sussman LLP, an 
antitrust litigation firm founded by former senior antitrust enforcement directors from the Federal Trade 
Commission, and Baron & Budd, P.C., one of the largest and most highly regarded mass tort firms 
representing public entities in the nation—filed an antitrust lawsuit against certain firetruck 
manufacturers and their private equity backers focused on alleged unlawful and anticompetitive 
consolidation of the firetruck manufacturing industry. Through a series of acquisitions, these companies 
bought their way to market power, enabling them to raise prices, reduce output, and extend delivery 
times, with cities, counties, and fire departments across the country having nowhere to turn. These law 
firms have filed 13 actions to date on behalf of cities and counties across the country, from California to 
Pennsylvania, Oregon, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah.  
These actions have been consolidated into the Fire Apparatus Antitrust MDL based out of the U.S. 
District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (In Re: Fire Apparatus Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District 
Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Case No. 26-MD-3179). The complaints allege violations of 
Clayton Act Section 7 (15 U.S.C. § 18), Sherman Act Section 2 (15 U.S.C. § 2), and analogous state 
and other applicable federal laws. They seek damages, automatically trebled, as well as the breakup of 
the consolidated companies in the form of divestitures. Resolution No. R2026.52 authorizes the City’s 
participation as a plaintiff in the Fire Apparatus Antitrust MDL, entering into a legal services contract for 
the same, and the City Attorney or designee taking certain actions furthering the Resolution, including 
filing a complaint in the District of Arizona, which will be transferred into the MDL for coordinated pretrial 
proceedings with the existing actions.
ATTACHMENTS:    
1. RESOLUTION NO. R2026.52 (FIRE APPARATUS MDL) 5 14 26.DOCX
STAFF CONTACT(S):  Eric Anderson, City Attorney, (480) 350-8227
Department Director:  Eric Anderson, City Attorney  
Legal review by:  Eric Anderson, City Attorney
Prepared by:  Kara Stanek, Senior Assistant City Attorney