Photo: Memory Stockphoto/Shutterstock.com

N95 manufacturer 3M is suing a New Jersey-based company for telling New York City officials it could provide millions of the medical-grade face masks, which are essential for health care workers who treat COVID-19 patients, for five to six times their list price, according to a suit filed Friday in the Southern District of New York.

Performance Supply LLC emailed a $45 million quote to the city's Office of Citywide Procurement at the end of March, using 3M's logo and leading officials to believe it was an authorized distributor of the masks, 3M attorney John Mancini of Mayer Brown wrote in the complaint.

"The mere association of 3M's valuable brand with such shameless price-gouging harms the brand, not to mention its more serious threat to public health agencies that are under strain in the midst of a worldwide pandemic," Mancini wrote.

As demand for the masks grew amid the pandemic, 3M increased production of N95s but has not increased prices, Mancini wrote. To combat price gouging, the company has created a hotline and published the list price of its masks so that potential buyers can easily check it, according to court papers.

The suggested list price of the two types of 3M N95s involved in this case is $1.02 to $1.31, but Performance Supply offered to sell 7 million masks to the city at a rate of more than $6 per mask, according to court papers.

Mancini argued that Performance Supply is a "prime example" of the people and companies trying to profit amid the pandemic, whether they're promising to deliver 3M masks that don't exist or actually producing counterfeit masks.

"Such conduct has inspired intense public criticism of the manner in which Plaintiff's respirator masks are being distributed and sold during the COVID-19 pandemic and significant confusion about Plaintiff's role in the marketplace for masks that are essential to safeguarding public health," he wrote.

Any damages won by 3M will be donated to a charitable organization of its choosing, according to the complaint.

A spokeswoman for Mayer Brown referred questions to 3M, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mayer Brown requested the issuance of a summons to Performance Supply at a New Jersey address, but no website, phone number or email address for the company appeared to be available.

No representation was listed for Performance Supply, and the case had not been assigned to a judge by press time.

READ MORE:

SDNY Tightens Restrictions on Use of Manhattan Courthouses in Response to Coronavirus

28 People Released From NYC Jails Waited 'In Limbo' After State Transfers Ended, Legal Aid Argues

David Lat, Eyeing Hospital Discharge, Talks About His Battle and Donating Blood to COVID-19 Research