Platts reported that a seventh class action lawsuit was filed on October 29th 2008 in US District Court of Northern Illinois, seeking damages from 8 US steelmakers under US antitrust laws. And at least two producers AK Steel and Nucor have addressed the cases in their respective 10Q reports, filed with the US Securities & Exchange Commission on November 4th 2008.

The latest case was submitted on October 29th 2008 by attorneys for Pennsylvania based Alco Industries, described on its web site as an employee owned corporation, which consists of eight diversified manufacturing companies located in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Alco's companies manufacture foundry equipment, commercial tanks and pressure vessels, bearing housings, tools and dies, electrical insulation materials and more.

Courts typically combine such class suits into a single action at a later date. The defendants named in Alco's filing are also the same as in the other cases: ArcelorMittal USA, US Steel, Nucor, Gerdau Ameristeel, Steel Dynamics, AK Steel Holding, SSAB Swedish Steel and Commercial Metals.

In the cases, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants conspired to fix, raise, maintain and stabilize the price at which steel products were sold in the United States during the class period present.

In its 10Q filing with the SEC, AK Steel Holding Corporation listed all 7 lawsuits by their cases numbers, noting that "Discovery has not yet commenced, and no trial date has been set. AK Holding intends to contest this matter vigorously."

Nucor, in its 10Q filing, said that "Although we believe the plaintiffs' claims are without merit and will vigorously defend against them, we cannot at this time predict the outcome of this litigation or determine Nucor's potential exposure."