UPDATE 1-Louisiana-Pacific settles OSB suit
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NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) - Louisiana-Pacific Corp (LPX.N) on Thursday said it agreed to pay more than $45 million to settle a class-action antitrust lawsuit that alleged several producers of oriented strand board (OSB) fixed prices.
The company, which vehemently denies that it broke any laws in its actions said it will pay $44.5 million into an escrow account to a class of direct purchasers of OSB -- an engineered wood made from wood chips and used in construction.
It will pay another $2.3 million into an escrow account for indirect purchasers of OSB.
"We were prepared to continue to vigorously defend this matter and believe we would have prevailed," Chief Executive Rick Frost said in a statement.
"However ... the magnitude of the plaintiffs' claims and the fact that any damages would be tripled under U.S. antitrust laws made even a small risk of losing at trial one we couldn't afford to take as it would have put the entire company and our shareholders at risk," he said.
Louisiana-Pacific said in March 2006 that it was named as one of seven defendants in the case. (Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Gary Hill)
