If you thought the Loblaw’s-orchestrated Bread Price Fixing Scandal was all put to bed – you were wrong. Some legal types say, naive. Canada Bread is now suing Loblaw’s, demanding the grocery chain pay its fine, plus costs and damages…
What a tangled web we weave… It took months to unravel the intricacies of the Canadian Bread Price fixing scandal. And it may take a year or more before consumers see any rebates from Loblaw’s to make up for its gouging.
The story up to now…
Loblaw’s agreed to cooperate with the authorities in the case and took a plea deal. But the chain subsequently pleaded guilty in a pair of related class action suits. And was ordered to reimburse customers $500 million dollars to make up for its egregious gouging on the price of plain white bread.
In a parallel but only loosely connected legal stream, Canada Bread was found guilty of conspiring with Loblaw’s and other retailers to artificially inflate the price of the bread it manufactured. And it was separately fined $50 million as recompense for its part in the caper.
Canada Bread used be owned by Weston’s, the same overarching monster-corp. that owns Maple Leaf Foods, which owns Loblaw’s. But it’s since been sold, and is now entirely separate and apart from the Weston Family Empire.
A major change
That’s made for a major shift in Canada Bread’s perspective on the price fixing affair. It’s now countersuing Loblaw’s to force it’s former sibling to pay it back the whole $50 million – plus costs and ‘damages’. And its prospects appear good according to legal eagles familiar with the whole schlemozzle. After all, Loblaw’s did ‘cooperate’ with the prosecution in the original case, avoiding criminal consequences. And it did accept responsibility for the gouging in those civil cases.
Dangerously exposed
Without the protection it once enjoyed under the Weston’s umbrella, Canada Bread finds itself dangerously exposed, financially, over the $50 million fine.
“Canada Bread claims Maple Leaf used Canada Bread as a shield, causing Canada Bread to assume the liabilities of the wrongful conduct, to the benefit of Maple Leaf,” the new lawsuit claims, in part.
“Canada Bread has brought this claim to hold Maple Leaf to account for any and all of its costs, expenses and damages resulting from such breaches, including those related to the Competition Bureau’s investigation. Further, to the extent Canada Bread is liable to the Plaintiffs in the class actions, this claim seeks compensation and indemnity from Maple Leaf.”
What now?
Who knows how long it will take the Canada Bread suit against Loblaw’s to crawl through the courts? And when it’s over, how will the outcome affect the pending refund to consumers?
For he foreseeable future… The whole mess is back in the proverbial Mixmaster…
~ Maggie J.