The small grocery chain Haggen is suing Albertsons for more than $1 billion, alleging the supermarket giant engaged in efforts to eliminate it as a viable competitor in five states.
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Debra Sukiasian, a pricing specialist, said she was discriminated against and forced to retire after she reported a mismatch between prices on the shelf and at the cash registers at the Haggen store where she worked in Carpinteria, Calif., according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in state court in Santa Barbara County. Haggen, a Pacific Northwest chain, bought 146 grocery stores from Albertsons and Safeway after the Federal Trade Commission forced them to be sold as part of a merger.
The grocer addressed the complaint in a statement: “Haggen was disappointed to learn about this lawsuit and is confident it has absolutely no merit”.
In July Albertsons hit Haggen with a .1 million lawsuit, accusing Haggen of not paying for inventory at 38 of the stores it acquired. Haggen alleges Albertsons hamstringed its ability to operate those stores.
Haggen has charged that Albertsons carried out many illegal actions that included using confidential information regarding scheduling to market against Haggen, providing false data on prices, deliberate overstocking as well as under stocking of certain items and failing to carrying out routine maintenance prior to the conversion.
“In order to convince Haggen to purchase 146 stores, Albertsons made false representations to both Haggen and the FTC about Albertsons’ commitment to a seamless transformation of the stores into viable competitors under the Haggen banner”, the Haggen lawsuit alleges.
In the latest lawsuit, Sukiasian said her problems started in June, when the Vons store where she was originally employed was converted to the Haggen brand.
The lawsuit claims Albertsons had violated its end of the sales agreement and that is had conducted a campaign versus Haggen.
“However, Albertsons diverted the shipment to an Albertsons store that was not changing ownership and billed the Haggen Las Vegas, NV store for the inventory that it never received”, according to the complaint. Then in August, Haggen announced that it would be closing 27 of its new locations.
“Recognizing that its competitor’s success or failure hinged on its initial fair pricing of an appropriate inventory of products, Albertsons embarked on an unlawful scheme to undermine the very competition that the FTC sought to preserve”, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit outlines how Haggen executives met with Albertsons counterparts at that company’s headquarters in Boise, Idaho, last November.
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The lawsuit says Albertsons’ violations of antitrust laws entitle Haggen to triple damages of at least $1 billion, plus attorneys’ fees.
