Clorox lost a bid to dismiss a novel antitrust lawsuit by a US supermarket challenging the household product maker’s policy of only selling bulk packages to large retailers.
The Wisconsin-based Woodman's Food Market, a 15-store grocery chain, claims Clorox last year adopted a policy of selling its large-pack products only to super-stores such as Costco Wholesale and Wal-Mart unit Sam’s Club.
Contending Clorox was engaging in price discrimination in violation of federal law, Woodman’s sued, arguing that if it couldn’t offer the same large packages and cheaper-per-unit cost, it would lose customers to the bigger competitors.
US. Magistrate Judge Stephen L. Crocker in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday rejected Clorox’s argument that the case is based on out-of-date regulatory rulings and should be thrown out. The question of whether offering special packaging to some retailers and not others violates the law hasn’t been addressed by a federal court, Crocker said.
“Its an increasingly frequent problem that our vendors are telling us we can’t get large packs any more,” John Kassner, a lawyer for Woodman’s, said. “We felt we needed to do something.”
Kassner, a partner in the Madison office of the law firm Von Briesen & Roper SC, said his client needs to be able to sell its customers “the products they want in the packaging they want,” or the chain will lose business to those that do.
Kathryn Caulfield, a spokeswoman for the Oakland, California-based maker of its namesake bleach, household cleaning products, Glad-brand plastic bags and Kingsford-brand charcoal, declined to comment on the court’s decision.
News by Bloomberg, edited by ESM
