
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 23, 1991                   TAG: 9102230115
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BONUS SOUGHT FOR PLAINTIFF IN BOTTLER SUIT

Roanoke area merchants who have filed claims against Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola bottlers in a price-fixing suit will share in a settlement of $750,000 while lawyers and the plaintiff will get $250,000, if a judge approves the plan proposed Friday.

Lawyers asked for a bonus for G. Clarence Hartman, a former Daleville merchant, who filed the suit last year but they declined to report the amount requested. Hartman sued Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Roanoke and General Cinema Beverages of Virginia, Pepsi-Cola's bottler in this area.

The bottlers agreed in November to deposit $1 million in an escrow account as a settlement but Leonard Egan of Washington, Hartman's lawyer, said $750,000 will be available to distribute to the small merchants and large grocery chains who have filed claims.

In a U.S. District Court hearing on fairness of the settlement, Judge Jackson Kiser said he wanted to review the case, but added "I see no reason why it [the settlement petition] will not be granted."

Egan told Kiser he does not know whether his proposed payment formula will pay all of the damages claimed. About 200 claims had been filed by early this week but Egan refused to say how many were in hand Friday. The final number of claims won't be known until after next Tuesday's deadline.

Merchants in Roanoke Valley, Montgomery, Giles, Craig, Botetourt, Alleghany, Franklin, Patrick and part of Bedford counties who bought soft drinks directly from either bottler between 1977 and 1987 are eligible to file claims.

Kiser told Egan if the claimants "get 99 cents on the dollar [claimed], that's one consideration, but if they're only going to get 33 cents, that's another thing."

The judge said, "The only real consideration is whether this ]price fixing] has taken money out of their [the claimants'] pockets."

Egan said he asked for a bonus for Hartman because "he's been the catalyst who brought the complaint." Hartman took his complaint to the Federal Trade Commission without satisfaction, the lawyer said.

Other merchants "didn't lift a finger but Mr. Hartman did," he added.

by CNB