Report: GE sues Whirlpool, suppliers

General Electric Co. alleges a price-fixing scheme in a lawsuit filed late last week in Kentucky against a unit of competitor Whirlpool Corp. and two European suppliers, according to reports.

In the lawsuit, Fairfield-based GE claims Embraco North America Inc., which is controlled by Whirlpool, Danfoss A/S of Denmark and Household Compressors Holding SpA of Italy collaborated to drive prices for compressors – such as those used in refrigerators – higher than they would otherwise have been, The Wall Street Journal reports.

According to the report, GE also argues in the lawsuit that the trio deprived GE of “innovation that would have resulted in increased efficiency, as well as increased sales and profits, in its sales of refrigerators and other refrigeration equipment.”

In the lawsuit, GE says it will seek three times the amount of unspecified damages resulting from the alleged scheme. GE’s Consumer & Industrial unit is headquartered at Appliance Park in Louisville, Ky.