Trane Class Action Lawsuit: Price Fixing, AC Defects, and Asbestos

Trane Technologies is a defendant in a Trane class action lawsuit filed in 2026 accusing it and six other HVAC manufacturers of conspiring to inflate equipment prices since January 2020. Two proposed classes are moving through federal court in Michigan: one for building owners who bought HVAC equipment, and one for contractors and distributors who bought directly from the manufacturers. A separate class action over defective Trane and American Standard air conditioners settled in 2020 and is closed to new claims. Legacy asbestos claims against Trane are being handled through a subsidiary bankruptcy in North Carolina, and direct lawsuits are stayed.

The HVAC Price-Fixing Class Action

In March 2026, consumer Alyssa Berg filed a class action against seven HVAC manufacturers in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The case, Berg v. Robert Bosch, LLC, et al. (Case No. 2:26-cv-10949), was brought by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro on behalf of residential and commercial building owners who purchased HVAC equipment since January 1, 2020.¹ It was assigned to Judge Susan K. DeClercq.²

A second suit followed on April 20, 2026. Richard Isom, the owner of Air Tech Services in Manatee County, Florida, filed Isom v. Trane Technologies PLC, et al. (Case No. 2:26-cv-11294) on behalf of direct purchasers, meaning contractors, distributors, and wholesalers who buy directly from manufacturers.³ Three more direct-purchaser suits landed within ten days.⁴ On May 15, 2026, Judge DeClercq consolidated the cases under lead number 26-10949 as HVAC Equipment Antitrust Litigation.²

The seven corporate families named as defendants are Trane, Carrier, Lennox, Daikin, Bosch, Rheem, and AAON. The complaints allege they collectively control about 92% of the U.S. HVAC market, a sector worth roughly $31 billion a year.⁵ The Trane defendants are Trane Technologies plc, Trane U.S. Inc., and Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US LLC. Familiar consumer brands tied to the defendants include American Standard and RunTru (Trane), Bryant and Payne (Carrier), Goodman and Amana (Daikin), and Ruud (Rheem).¹

What the Lawsuits Accuse Trane and the Others of Doing

The core claim is that the manufacturers violated Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act by conspiring to raise HVAC prices starting no later than January 1, 2020. The complaints allege prices ran about 8% above what a competitive market would produce, based on a regression that controlled for roughly 20 cost variables including copper, aluminum, steel, labor, electricity, and general inflation.¹ The Isom complaint pegs the total price increase over the alleged conspiracy period at about 53.5%.⁶

According to the plaintiffs, three channels made the coordination possible. The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, a trade association controlled by the defendants, ran a “give-to-get” data-sharing program: to receive competitive intelligence, a manufacturer had to submit its own proprietary, non-public data. An AHRI app launched in 2020 gave participants access to individual product performance data and predictive analytics, allowing manufacturers to monitor each other in near-real time.⁶ The trade publication Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News allegedly served as the signaling channel; the complaints say defendants “extensively and nearly exclusively relied on ACHR News to immediately publish and disseminate their price increase announcements.”⁷ Beyond the public channels, the lawsuits allege “frequent and repeated secret meetings” and the use of coded language among conspirators.⁵

The complaints point to sequential price hikes as evidence of coordination. In August 2020, Johnson Controls (whose HVAC business is now part of Bosch) announced a price increase of up to 6% on residential and commercial products. Within weeks, Trane announced its own increase of up to 6%.¹ The Isom complaint describes a broader pattern of competing increases following one another in as little as two weeks.⁵

The plaintiffs also lean on executive statements. Lennox CEO Alok Maskara said in July 2023 that “the industry pricing remains disciplined and our own mid-year price increase has been broadly successful.”¹ Lennox CFO Michael Quenzer said “the industry’s generally been disciplined for the past several years.” Trane EVP and CFO Chris Kuehn reportedly said, “I don’t want anyone to think that pricing is coming down in that market.”⁵

The complaints acknowledge that manufacturers faced real cost pressures during the period, including pandemic supply chain disruptions, new energy efficiency standards, the hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant phase-down under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020, and tariffs. The plaintiffs call these “pretextual justifications, unsupported by the actual data.”¹ The Isom complaint further alleges that when demand softened, manufacturers coordinated production cuts to hold prices up, citing reported output reductions by Trane, Carrier, and Lennox in 2025 and 2026.⁶

Both Carrier and Trane have called the allegations “baseless,” according to reporting by Facilities Dive.³

Who Can Join the Case

Two proposed classes are on the table. The Berg consumer case seeks to represent residential and commercial building owners across the United States who purchased HVAC equipment since January 1, 2020. Covered equipment includes air conditioner condensers, heat pumps, furnaces, air handlers, rooftop units, split systems, chillers, and variable refrigerant flow systems.⁵

The Isom direct-purchaser case covers a different group: contractors, dealers, distributors, and supply houses that bought equipment directly from a defendant manufacturer or its owned distribution outlets since January 2020. That complaint seeks treble damages under federal antitrust law and injunctive relief.⁶⁸

Neither class has been certified. Discovery has been stayed while the court sorts out leadership and procedural motions, and the defendants had not formally answered the complaints before consolidation.²⁹ No claim form or payout process exists yet. If a class is certified later, class members typically receive notice by mail or publication with instructions to file a claim or opt out.

The Earlier Defective Air Conditioner Settlement Is Closed

A separate Trane class action, Livingston, et al. v. Trane U.S. Inc. (Case No. 2:17-cv-06480), resolved claims involving nearly 500,000 Trane and American Standard air conditioners and heat pumps, most manufactured between November 2013 and September 2014.¹⁰ The plaintiffs alleged the units contained an unapproved rust inhibitor inside the compressor, which caused sticky deposits on the thermostatic expansion valve, restricted refrigerant flow, and could damage the compressor.¹¹

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted final approval on August 12, 2020. Qualifying owners could receive up to $825 (up to $575 for valve replacement and up to $250 for additive-injection reimbursement), along with a free preventative additive treatment with a labor credit and, for certain units, an extended compressor warranty. Trane admitted no wrongdoing. The claim deadline passed in September 2020 and the settlement is closed to new claims.¹¹¹⁰

Asbestos Claims Go Through a Subsidiary Bankruptcy, Not a Class Action

People searching for a Trane class action sometimes have asbestos exposure in mind. Those claims are not being handled as a class action. In June 2020, two Trane subsidiaries, Aldrich Pump LLC and Murray Boiler LLC, filed for Chapter 11 in the Western District of North Carolina to consolidate the company’s asbestos-related personal injury claims.¹² All asbestos lawsuits against Aldrich, Murray, and Trane entities remain stayed by court order. A proposed $545 million trust reached preliminarily in 2021 still awaits final bankruptcy court approval, and the first phase of a hearing to estimate the subsidiaries’ total asbestos liabilities is scheduled for August 2026.¹³ Anyone with an asbestos claim should track the bankruptcy proceeding rather than the price-fixing case.

1
Facilities Dive. Consumer Sues Manufacturers for Conspiring to Inflate HVAC Prices
2
Justia Dockets. HVAC Equipment Antitrust Litigation
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Facilities Dive. HVAC Manufacturers Face Second Suit Over Price-Fixing Allegation
4
Daikin. Notice Regarding Provisional Class Action Lawsuits Filed in the United States
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Hagens Berman. HVAC Price-Fixing Antitrust Class Action
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Scott+Scott. Isom v. Trane Technologies PLC et al., Class Action Complaint
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ACHR News. Lawsuit Alleges OEM Coordination Behind HVAC Price Increases
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Top Class Actions. Carrier, Trane, Rheem Among HVAC Companies Accused of Price Fixing in Class Action
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MDM. HVAC OEMs Face 2 New Price-Fixing Lawsuits as Legal Pressure Mounts
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Top Class Actions. Trane and American Standard AC Heat Pump Settlement
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PR Newswire. If You Owned or Currently Own Certain Trane or American Standard Air Conditioners or Heat Pumps, You Could Get Benefits From a Settlement
12
Bloomberg Law. Trane Technologies Units Go Bankrupt to Handle Asbestos Claims
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U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Trane Technologies PLC SEC Filing – Commitments and Contingencies