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Manischewitz Pleads No
Contest On Price-Fixing
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The matzah maker could be fined as
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NOW MEETS AT
RON OSTROFF
Editorial Coordinator
B
. Manischewitz Co.
has pleaded no con-
test to charges that it
conspired to set the
wholesale prices of Passover
matzah products.
In addition, Conservative
rabbis voted overwhelmingly
to summon Manischewitz and
companies it is alleged to
have conspired with to appear
before a rabbinical court to
answer charges of price-fixing
and possibly take reparatory
action to the Jewish
community.
U.S. District Judge Harold
A. Ackerman accepted the
plea during an April 26
hearing in Newark, N.J.The
judge's action comes less
than a year after he rejected
a similar plea application,
saying it would not be in the
public interest.
The judge set sentencing
for May 17. At that time, the
Jersey City, N.J., company,
which claims to be the
largest matzah maker in the
world, could be fined as
much as $1 million.
Attorneys for
Manischewitz and officials of
the company could not be
reached for comment. In an
earlier interview, Jim
Plaisted, a Roseland, N.J.,
lawyer for the company
called the plea "an ap-
propriate resolution of the
case."
Gina Talamona, a Justice
Department spokeswoman,
said the government had no
comment.
Under strict legal defini-
tion, a no contest plea in a
criminal case is equivalent
to an admission of guilt in
that case only. The defen-
dant can still deny the same
alleged facts in any other
proceedings such as civil
lawsuits for damages.
In a brief April 11 order,
the judge said he would ac-
cept the no contest plea, but
did not give his reasons.
However during the hear-
ing, he strongly implied that
his change of mind was
related to the kosher food
company's settlement of
civil suits over the price-
fixing allegations.
If the civil cases had not
been settled and the no con-
test plea had been accepted,
those bringing the lawsuits
I would have had to try to in-
A
dependently prove the liabil-
ity of Manischewitz. They
could not use the no contest
plea as an admission of guilt.
The five class action
lawsuits — four by retailers
and one by a California con-
sumer and caterer — asked
for triple their damages
caused by the alleged price-
fixing. The suits claimed
matzah prices were higher
because of the price-fixing.
Government lawyers had
argued that accepting a no
contest plea could signal to
other companies that price-
fixing is just a cost of doing
business.
The company had denied
the charges and said it
would suffer enough from
the massive publicity follow-
The company
could be fined as
much as $1
million.
ing the indictment and the
fine expected to be levied by
the judge.
The indictment, brought in
March 1990, just weeks
before Passover, alleged that
between "sometime in 1981
and continuing at least
though April 1986,"
Manischewitz and unnamed
others conspired "to sup-
press competition by fixing
prices of kosher for Passover
matzah products in the
United States." The indict-
ment charged that
Manischewitz and other con-
spirators made agreements
about how much Passover
matzah product prices would
be increased.
The indictment noted that
Manischewitz and the
unnamed co-conspirators
sold approximately $25 mill-
ion of Passover matzah pro-
ducts between 1981 and
1986.
The vote on the rabbis'
resolution came Tuesday at
the annual meeting in Kia-
mesha Lake, N.Y., of the Rab-
binical Assembly.
Rabbi Irwin Groner, presi-
dent of the Conservative rab-
bis group, said he will make
a written request to Mani-
schewitz, Horowitz Bros. and
Margareten, and Aron Streit
Inc. to appear before a rab-
binical court or beit din.
Horowitz Bros. was pur-
chased by Manischewitz in
1986.
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