A great part of my future goals has been empowered by my association with the Professional Women s Group of Cincinnati and its members, Crawford said. Today I can say with confidence that I am a woman who can and will finish what I start. Attorney General Montgomery led the multistate lawsuit against Nine West, which arose after allegations were made of price-fixing between the shoe company and its retail stores. The states alleged that Nine West entered into illegal agreements with shoe retailers to fix prices between January 1998 and July 1999. Evidence showed that customers were denied an open and competitive shoe market and therefore paid higher prices for shoes.
Price fixing is illegal under both federal and state antitrust laws.
Since most of the customers harmed by this illegal conduct were women, distribution of the settlement money was targeted to organizations or programs benefiting women s health, education, vocational, or safety programs. In addition to paying the settlement funds attorney fees, Nine West has agreed to refrain from agreements or business practices for five years to influence or control prices and notify their retailers of the retailers right to independently determine shoe prices.