Attorney General Jeff Jackson Defends Antitrust Enforcement in Chemours Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 5, 2026
Contact: comms@ncdoj.gov
919-538-2809

Raleigh—Attorney General Jeff Jackson is fighting to protect North Carolinians from anticompetitive behavior by urging a federal appeals court to ensure that when antitrust cases are heard, the conduct is considered in its entirety instead of on a piece-by-piece basis. That big-picture consideration of a company’s conduct is central to proving anticompetitive behavior.

“When companies engage in anticompetitive tactics, their customers end up paying more and having fewer choices,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “We must be able to effectively enforce antitrust laws, and I urge the court to make sure it doesn’t become more difficult to do so.”

Attorney General Jackson filed an amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case about Chemours allegedly illegally monopolizing part of the HVAC refrigerant market.

Chemours developed a refrigerant called R-454B in response to federal regulations that required manufacturers to use chemicals that were less likely to harm the environment. It is used in HVAC systems in homes and some businesses.

Other chemical manufacturers sued The Chemours Company FC, LLC, and Mexichem Fluor, Inc., under Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and other laws. The plaintiffs accused the defendants of monopolizing the sales of all refrigerants in the United States, including R-454B, through a complex scheme that involved misrepresenting that R-454B was patented, exclusive contracting, threats, and more. A district court judge dismissed the case, and the plaintiffs appealed.

Attorney General Jackson’s amicus brief argues that the district court was wrong to evaluate the alleged Section 2 monopoly conduct separately instead of evaluating it as a whole. He argues that the district court failed to apply the precedent set in a North Carolina case, Duke Energy v. NTE Carolinas, which established that alleged anticompetitive conduct should be evaluated together instead of as individual components, to this case.

States are among those responsible for enforcing federal antitrust laws. The amicus brief notes that the district court’s ruling would make it more difficult to do so and emphasizes the importance of not placing unjustified burdens on plaintiffs who bring antitrust claims.

Attorney General Jeff Jackson has previously fought to protect North Carolinians from companies that violate antitrust laws. Earlier this month, he shut down a secret data exchange that raised prices on chicken, pork, and turkey. In April, he won a court order temporarily freezing the Nexstar and Tegna TV Merger and won a seven-week long trial against Live Nation and Ticketmaster on all claims. He is also suing the software company RealPage for allegedly exploiting landlords’ competitively sensitive information to create a pricing algorithm that violated antitrust laws and raised rent prices.

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