Jewel Prevails in Price Fixing Class Action
CHICAGO (January 12, 2005) — The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a trial court's ruling in favor of the defendants in Maureen Baker et. al., v. Jewel Food Stores, Inc., a consumer class action lawsuit against Jewel Food Stores and Dominick's Finer Foods which alleged that the two largest grocery store chains in the Chicago area conspired to fix the price of milk. The plaintiffs were seeking between $52 and $125 million in damages, before trebling on behalf of the class.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in August 2000 for a class of consumers who purchased milk from Jewel and Dominick's in a nine county metropolitan Chicago area between August 1996 and August 2000. In February 2003, Cook County Circuit Court Judge John Morrissey dismissed the class action lawsuit at trial immediately following the close of the plaintiffs' evidence, ruling that plaintiffs failed to prove the existence of the alleged price-fixing conspiracy. The Appellate Court has now affirmed that decision and agreed that the plaintiffs failed to prove their claims.
McDermott Will & Emery represented Jewel Food Stores. McDermott's Chicago-based legal team was led by partners David Marx and Bill Boies.
