Opinion ID: 8414535
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Fleece Suppliers

Text: Megan Lauritano — a senior product manager at Aérospostale from 2004 to 2006 — testified that, in 2004, Finazzo made the decision to expand Aéropostale’s use of South Bay as a supplier tó fleece products as well. 8 South Bay was not a “known vendor” for fleece products at the time. Dey App’x at 1958. Lauritano testified that Finazzo determined the price and quantity of fleece orders with South Bay. She explained that South Bay’s performance in the fleece business in 2004 was poor, including significant delivery delays that Aéropostale did not experience with-other fleece vendors. Nevertheless, Finaz-zo dictated that Aéropostale continue buying fleece product from South Bay. When Lauritano informed Finazzo in 2005 that she had done a cost comparison analysis of South Bay and other fleece vendors and found that South Bay was not competitive, Finazzo nevertheless directed her to place an order with South Bay. South Bay continued to have delivery problems in 2005, and Lauritano proposed that South Bay give Aéropostale discounts to account for the markdowns Aéropostale was forced to take on late fleece deliveries. Finazzo ultimately decided that South Bay would not be required to discount those products. Despite these problems, Finazzo still directed placement of fleece orders with South Bay in 2006, negotiating the prices himself. Lauritano testified that South Bay continued to have delivery delays, “some of them [by] several months.” Id. at 1984. She stated that she again proposed that South Bay give Aéropostale a discount, but Finazzo decided not to pursue one. George Justin Meno — a product manager of men’s knits at Aéropostale starting in September 2005 — estimated that South Bay’s “egregious” delivery delays for fleece products in 2005 and 2006 cost Aéro-postale approximately $1.8 million in lost sales. Id. at 760, 767. Because of these delivery delays, Meno suggested looking into pricing for overseas vendors. Finazzo did not authorize this effort. When Meno requested discounts from South Bay to compensate for the delays, Finazzo made it clear that Meno “needed to back off a little bit from South Bay” and refused to request any discounts. Id. at 766-68. Similarly, Jinah Jung — an Aéropostale product manager — testified that she did not want to purchase fleece products from South Bay “[bjecause their costs [were] always high and their quality was subpar.” Id. at 1051. Nevertheless, she purchased fleece products from South Bay at Finaz-zo’s direction, because Finazzo had “the final say” on the orders. Id. at 1052, 1055. On February 14, 2005, Jung sent Finazzo an email stating that the $6.85 price Finaz-zo agreed upon for a South Bay fleece order was “really high,” and that she “kn[e]w” she could “get it for a low $6 range.” Id. at 1053. She specifically noted that Aéropostale “could have saved approximately $300,000” on the order. Id. Finazzo refused to change the order, responding: ‘Tes, that is the price I agreed with [Dey] on.” Id. at 1055.