Fire Coating Lawsuit Filed
A lawsuit is pitting two leaders in the coatings market against each other. Carboline Global Inc. has sued coatings and paint giant Sherwin-Williams, claiming false advertising for its fire-resistant steel paint. Carboline filed the lawsuit September 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri (case number 4:25-cv-0131).
Carboline’s claim involves a Sherwin-Williams product called FIRETEX FX9502, an “intumescent” fireproof coating that expands under heat to protect steel. Intumescent coatings like FX9502 or Carboline’s Thermo-Lag E100, a direct competitor, are critical safety products that form an insulating char when exposed to high heat, buying valuable time for steel structures in a fire. However, the effectiveness of the products depends on them being applied in the right thickness.
Carboline charges that, from 2021 through 2024, Sherwin-Williams knowingly falsified the results of third-party testing on the paint to expand sales with an advertising campaign that claimed the paint would protect with only half the actual recommended thickness.
“Sherwin-Williams had a great story, but it was built on falsehoods,” the lawsuit claims.
Sherwin-Williams said it has acknowledged errors in some third-party reports but said it notified customers as soon as it became aware and worked swiftly to overcome issues. In a statement to the Business Journal, Sherwin-Williams dismissed Carboline’s suit as “an opportunistic attempt to leverage litigation as a means to gain a competitive advantage” and pledged to “vigorously defend” against the claims in court.
Founded in 1947, Carboline is a St. Louis-based coatings manufacturer known for producing performance coatings, linings and fireproofing products for construction throughout the world. Sherwin-Williams is the largest paint and coatings company in the world by revenue, especially after its 2017 acquisition of Valspar. It holds the leading share in the North American architectural coatings market (paints, stains and finishes for residential and commercial buildings), where its brand and company-owned retail stores give it a powerful distribution advantage.
Both companies are significant competitors in the North American marine coatings markets, along with AkzoNobel (International Paint), PPG Industries, Jotun, Hempel and Nippon Paint Marine.
