On November 19, a Virginia court judge issued an order in favor of door manufacturer Steves and Sons’ (Steves) motion for further relief requiring defendant Jeld-Wen to pay an additional $7 million on top of the amount Steves already won in a February 2018 verdict.

Judge Robert E. Payne released a memorandum of opinion agreeing with Steves’ claims, filed in May this year, that Jeld-Wen continued to overcharge for doorskins in violation of the two door manufacturing companies’ supply agreement after a jury ruling in Steves’ favor.

“Both parties agree that Jeld-Wen owes Steves for overcharges,” the memorandum of opinion states, “However, the parties disagree as to how to calculate those damages.”

Jeld-Wen and Steves both submitted calculations from experts for total damages associated with overcharges, with Jeld-Wen’s estimate coming out to somewhere between $2.7 million and $5.7 million and Steves’ estimate at around $7 million.

The court accepted Steves’ calculations on the basis that the jury had originally implicitly accepted the expert for Steves’ calculations in the initial jury ruling.

This is the latest blow for Jeld-Wen in a long legal battle between the two door manufacturing companies that started in 2016.

In response to the most recent ruling in favor of Steves’ request for further relief, Jeld-Wen issued a statement on November 21 expressing the company’s intentions to continue fighting. Jeld-Wen announced that it will seek a stay of this decision as it continues to appeal the underlying judgment.

Steves’ attorney Marvin G. Pipkin said in a statement released by Steves’ on November 22 that the company plans to seek further damages for the overcharge costs since filing in May, which come out to around another $3 million.

“Unless Jeld-Wen corrects its prices, the overcharge damages will continue to pile up by approximately $500,000 every month,” said Pipkin.

While Steves president Sam Bell Steves II added, “All of us look forward to returning competition and choice to this industry – not just to Steves, but to the other independent door manufacturers around this country who have no sourcing choices due to an adjudicated antitrust violation.”