|
Division of Criminal Justice |
|
|
May 11, 2001 DISTRIBUTION
OF $1 MILLION FROM NINE WEST SHOES ANTITRUST SETTLEMENT |
|
|
TRENTON -- Attorney General John J. Farmer, Jr., will present New Jersey's portion of a nationwide antitrust settlement against Nine West shoes to two state agencies sponsoring four programs selected by the state Division of Criminal Justice that provide a variety of services to women in need. The presentation will occur Monday, May 14, at 11 a.m. at the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex. The presentation will be held in the fifth-floor training room of the state Division of Criminal Justice, located in the West Wing of the Market Street building in Trenton. All media are welcome to attend. Farmer will present $959,391.73, New Jersey's portion of the settlement monies. The settlement funds will be presented to officials with the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, to benefit two of their program, Healthy Hearts Program and the Substance Abuse Treatment Program for Women; the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Division of Women, to benefit their Scholarships for Childcare and Transportation Services Program and their New Jersey Office of Women's Research. Representatives of each agency will be on hand to describe the specific use of the money. On March 6, 2000, Farmer had joined Attorneys General in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories in a multi-state settlement that resolved an antitrust lawsuit. The suit had been filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the national shoe retailer, Nine West Group, Inc. The lawsuit had alleged that the retailer had overcharged many consumers who had purchased shoes bearing the brand names Easy Spirit, Nine West and Enzo Angiolini. The lawsuit alleged many of its consumers were overcharged because the company had participated in an illegal "resale price fixing maintenance" scheme between January 1988 and July 1999. "It seems more than just and appropriate that money taken illegally from women through price fixing would be returned to them in this way, so that all women across this state as well as those across the nation will have the opportunity to receive a benefit," Division of Criminal Justice Director Kathryn Flicker said. |
|
