Wednesday, November 25, 1998
Whatever happened to two lawsuits filed in 1987 by the state attorney general over produce price-fixing? Produce dealers
settled state suitThe state attorney general settled with the Wholesale Produce Dealers Association of Hawaii in 1989, after encountering some legal problems.
The association pleaded guilty in 1986 to federal felony charges that it fixed prices from 1969-82, and was fined $125,000.
A year later, on April 15, 1987, the attorney general filed two lawsuits -- one in state court, one in federal court -- asking that consumers be paid triple the amount of damages they sustained from the price-fixing.
According to the state lawsuit, the state and wholesalers entered into a deal in 1989 that the state said was aimed at preventing a recurrence of price fixing.
The agreement called for a $200,000 civil penalty that would be suspended for five years, provided that the association complied with terms of the agreement. The association also had to develop an educational program to inform members of anti-trust laws and regulations.
The association also would have to pay $20,000 to the attorney general's office for carrying out anti-trust law enforcement.
In court documents, the state said the association clearly violated state and federal anti-trust laws, but the lawsuit had legal problems -- including the actions of state workers with the University of Hawaii Cooperative Extension who conceived and initiated a program to help cabbage farmers, which led to the price-fixing.
In 1994, the state filed documents saying that the association had satisfactorily carried out the provisions of the agreement.
By Crystal Kua, Star-Bulletin
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