A group of loggers and landowners, organized under the Malheur Forest Fairness Coalition, is pushing the Ninth Circuit to revive their antitrust lawsuit against Iron Triangle LLC. The suit accuses the logging and lumber company of monopolizing logging and related services in eastern Oregon’s Malheur National Forest region. The coalition filed their opening brief Thursday, seeking to reverse a lower court ruling that dismissed the case, arguing that Iron Triangle had monopoly power and used anticompetitive tactics to dominate the region.
The dispute centers around a stewardship contract awarded to Iron Triangle by the U.S. Forest Service, which the company promised to use to improve the Malheur National Forest while stimulating the regional economy. The coalition claims that Iron Triangle exploited this contract to monopolize four distinct markets related to logging services, including by hoarding lumber and misrepresenting its capacity to the Forest Service. Additionally, the coalition accuses Iron Triangle of making a deal with Malheur Lumber, which agreed to purchase logging services solely from Iron Triangle, effectively stifling competition.
