Rouse Services joins RealPage and Agri Stats as alleged facilitators of price collusion.
A growing list of class actions alleging nationwide price-fixing in the construction equipment rental industry has been consolidated in the Northern District of Illinois as MDL No. 3152, with Judge Sara L. Ellis presiding. The litigation targets the nation’s largest rental companies and their data analytics provider, Rouse Services LLC, for allegedly coordinating rental rates using shared, real-time pricing algorithms.
The complaints draw parallels to Department of Justice and private litigation against RealPage and Agri Stats, other benchmarking providers accused of facilitating collusion in the real estate rental and agriculture industries, respectively.
Plaintiffs include small companies with names like Mack’s Junk Removal, Haxton Masonry, John Signs, and numerous others representing a nationwide class of equipment renters.
The Defendants
Defendant Rouse Services (and parent RB Global, Inc.) is a leading provider of data analytics, benchmarking, and pricing tools for the equipment rental industry. According to the suits, Rouse feeds confidential transaction and fleet information from hundreds of rental firms into its algorithmic pricing platform. RB Global operates as a global marketplace and analytics provider for commercial assets.
Among the rental supplier defendants are United Rentals, Inc., the largest equipment rental company in North America, and The Home Depot, Inc., the world’s largest home improvement retailer. Home Depot operates a substantial tool and equipment rental business through its stores across the U.S., serving both professionals and DIY customers. Other defendants are Sunbelt Rentals, Inc., HERC Holdings Inc. & Herc Rentals Inc., H&E Equipment Services, Inc., Sunstate Equipment Co., LLC, and Equipmentshare.com Inc.
These defendants control more than 80% of the U.S. rental market, according to the plaintiffs, and Rouse’s clients represent at least 60% of the market.
Private Data Allegedly Pooled from 400 Companies
The equipment renters allege that the major rental companies outsourced independent pricing decisions to Rouse Services, which collects and analyzes non-public, competitively sensitive data from more than 400 companies. Rouse’s algorithmic pricing tool generates “benchmark” prices by category and market, which defendants allegedly use to align their rates, resulting in artificially inflated, supra-competitive prices nationwide.
The complaint describes a hub-and-spoke conspiracy: vertical agreements between Rouse and each rental company, plus a horizontal agreement among competitors to use Rouse’s pricing recommendations.
Techno-Cartels
The complaint and economic literature cited by the plaintiffs argue that industry-wide use of shared pricing algorithms—often powered by AI—facilitates collusion, price alignment, and higher margins without direct human intervention. They cite academic studies and DOJ and Federal Trade Commission statements warning that shared algorithms can create “techno-cartels” and hub-and-spoke conspiracies. DOJ officials have specifically noted that machine learning and pricing algorithms can make even historical data competitively sensitive.
The actions have been filed under Section 1 of the Sherman Act for alleged price-fixing, hub-and-spoke conspiracy, and unlawful exchange of competitively sensitive information.
On Aug. 13, 2025, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized at least eight actions from three districts (California, Iowa, Illinois) in the Northern District of Illinois. The panel cited common factual questions about an alleged price-fixing conspiracy and the use of Rouse’s analytic platform and algorithmic pricing tool.
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