The Hancock County School District filed a class-action lawsuit in October accusing major sports equipment manufacturers, including Riddell Sports and Varsity Brands, and other retailers of violating antitrust laws through an illegal bid-rigging and price-fixing scheme.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Gulfport, accuses the companies of working with other retailers, including BSN Sports, Hibbett Inc., Sports Center and Rex Team Sports, to form what attorneys described as a “cartel” that inflated the costs of athletic equipment and related services sold to K-12 schools in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Mississippi law requires school districts to seek bids for equipment and services when costs are between $5,000 and $75,000.
According to the lawsuit, from 2010 to 2023, participants in the alleged scheme coordinated their bids to manipulate the lowest-bidder selection process.
The lawsuit identifies several sales professionals with Riddell, BSN Sports, Rex Team Sports and other companies who pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the bid-rigging scheme.
“Mississippi families, educators and taxpayers trusted that the bidding process would get their schools a fair price, and the complaint lays out how that trust was exploited for years,” said Charles J. LaDuca, firm chairman at Cuneo Gilbert Flannery & LaDuca., which is representing the School District along with Mississippi attorney Don Barrett. “Every dollar overpaid for a helmet or a uniform is a dollar that didn’t go to students. This lawsuit seeks to return that money to the districts that lost it.”
The School District noted that several sales professionals with Riddell, BSN Sports, Rex Team Sports and other companies pleaded guilty to violating the Sherman Act during the class period.
“Public schools don’t have the option of going without football helmets or uniforms, and these suppliers exploited that to charge them more,” said Evelyn Riley, partner at Cuneo Gilbert Flannery & LaDuca. “The criminal cases established that this conduct happened. This class action is about holding the companies themselves accountable and making sure our client and class members never pay rigged prices again.”
Both Riddell and BSN Sports are sports brands that manufacture and distribute sports equipment to middle schools, high schools, universities, and other sports programs across the country.
The Hancock County School District is asking for monetary damages that are three times the amount charged in the bid-rigging scheme.
This report first appeared in the Sun Herald before appearing in SuperTalk Mississippi News.
Source: www.supertalk.fm
