Ottawa: Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its parent firm George Weston Ltd.’s have agreed to pay $500 million to settle a class-action lawsuit, which was related to their alleged involvement in a bread price-fixing scheme.
A number of businesses, including Loblaw and the Weston companies, Metro, Walmart Canada, Giant Tiger, and Sobeys and its owner, Empire Co. Ltd., were named defendants in the class-action lawsuit.
Plaintiffs claim that between 2001 and 2015, those corporations engaged in a 14-year industry-wide price-fixing conspiracy that drove up the cost of packaged bread unnecessarily.
Loblaw will pay $252.5 million, consisting of $156.5 million in cash and credit for $96 million that it has already given to clients through the Loblaw Card program, while George Weston will pay $247.5 million in cash.
Galen Weston, the chair of Loblaw and the chief executive of George Weston, offered an apology on behalf of the businesses.
Weston said, “This behavior should never have occurred.” “We have privileged of serving Canadians from coast to coast . That privilege needs to be earned each and every day. Reaching a settlement on this matter was the right thing to do in response to previous behaviour that did not meet our values and ethical standards.”