Nippon Steel drops lawsuit against Cleveland-Cliffs, its CEO and head of United Steelworkers International
A federal lawsuit stemming from the $14.9 billion merger between Japan-based Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel has been dismissed.
A notice of dismissal was filed Wednesday, Sept. 3, in the Western District Court of Pennsylvania for the lawsuit in which Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel alleged the Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs, its CEO and the president of the United Steelworkers International engaged in an anti-competitive conspiracy to prompt U.S. Steel to either merge with Cleveland-Cliffs “or be murdered,” according to court documents.
“This outcome speaks for itself,” Cleveland-Cliffs’ CEO Lourenco Goncalves said in a statement. “The case has been dismissed with prejudice, there was no financial consideration exchanged, and all claims have been released. We remain fully focused on advancing our steelmaking leadership in North America.”
Court documents indicate each party must cover its own expenses and attorney fees.
The suit, filed in January 2025, claimed leadership at Cliffs, which has a plant in Butler Township, and the United Steelworkers spearheaded an “unlawful campaign to monopolize critical steel markets,” destroy the plaintiffs ability to compete and cause them billions of dollars in damages.
U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel announced June 18 that they finalized their partnership, but the deal did not come without some hurdles. Former President Joe Biden blocked the deal in January, citing national security concerns, but it was later approved by now President Donald Trump in May.
The deal aims to create more than 100,000 jobs through investments by Nippon in steel making efforts within the United States.
The partnership ensures U.S. Steel will retain its name and headquarters in Pittsburgh and will continue to mine, melt and make steel in the United States.
According to the agreement, Nippon Steel has agreed to make about $11 billion in new investments in U.S. Steel by 2028, which includes an initial investment in a greenfield project that will be completed after 2028.
The plaintiffs in the case included U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel, and in late July the two had planned to move the case forward.
However, the defendants, Cleveland-Cliffs, its CEO Lourenco Goncalves and David McCall, the president of the United Steelworkers International, attempted to get the case dismissed, submitting two published news articles to the court that they believed explain why the complaint should be dismissed as moot.
A status conference was held on July 23 in federal court in Pittsburgh, when U.S. District Judge Marilyn Horan said some of the issues laid out in the original complaint were likely moot because of the merger.
Horan did not preclude U.S. Steel and Nippon from potentially filing an amended complaint seeking damages from Cleveland-Cliffs and the leadership of the steelworkers union. In turn, Horan gave the plaintiffs 45 days to file a motion to amend, allowing the lawsuit to potentially move ahead. No such motion was filed.
