El Paso Bakeries Enter Compromise

May 5, 1976

	Publication: El Paso Times Date: 05/05/1976 El Paso Bakeries Enter Compromise By Jeff Barton Times Business Writer Three El Paso bakeries, defendants in a civil class action suit alleging they conspired to fix bread prices, entered into a $510,000 compromise settlement Tuesday in U.S. District Court. District Court Judge John Wood Jr. will rule on the agreement at a public hearing set June 14. The bakeries, Kahn’s, Mead’s and Rainbo, allegedly conspired to control bread prices; however, the agreement is not an admission of liability by the defendants. Leon Tourk of Leo’s Food Store, Armando L. Baca of Triumph Grocer and T&V Inc. are the plaintiffs in the class action suit, which as entered June 26, 1975. Harold L. Sims, attorney representing Rainbo Baking Co., said, “This represents a compromise settlement subject to court approval. It is in no way an admission of guilt.” The agreement would require the defendants as a group, to pay $510,000 within 18 months. Should the court approve the plan, each defendant would make an initial payment of $56,699, followed by three installments of $37,777 at six month intervals. The plaintiffs alleged that the three bakeries engaged in a conspiracy to raise, fix, stabilize and maintain prices in the sale of bread products. The bakeries denied the allegations. On Jan. 14, the bakeries as co-defendants in a federal antitrust suit entered pleas of “nolo contendre” to price fixing charges which stemmed from special grand jury hearings conducted by the antitrust division of the Justice Department.