Opinion ID: 531048
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Atlanta Meetings and Other Evidence of Agreement to Fix Price

Text: 44 In early October 1984, Hans van der Sande and Robert Baldauf of Washington Mills met with Robert Biebel of BCS in Atlanta to discuss the PW situation in Columbus, and visited Pratt's Columbus plant. (Pl.Ex. 200). At this point, BCS was no longer selling media to the Columbus plant. During that meeting, however, the fact that BCS was willing to turn the Pratt Columbus account over to Washington Mills for direct sales was discussed. Van der Sande's report of that meeting stated that Biebel said he has several good friends at P & W, who take trips on his boat to the Bahamas and give him an edge over competition. (Pl.Ex. 191). The record indicates that BCS did provide Caribbean trips on its corporate boat for certain Pratt employees, including James Neil, Moe Dahill, and Dave Dawson, all of whom were responsible, to varying degrees, for testing and approving media. 16 45 There was also evidence that BCS worked with its contacts at Pratt to develop the Washington Mills media used at the Columbus plant. Although the extent of their collaboration remains disputed, it was undisputed that Washington Mills and BCS coordinated their activities in developing the media for Pratt. 17 46 Regarding the October 1984 trip to the Columbus plant, van der Sande's report stated that [w]e had a great visit, inside sources confirmed to Bob [Biebel] that the Pratt people were impressed by our visit. We were given (special permission) to visit the actual manufacturing facilities. (Pl.Ex. 192, van der Sande Dep. 39). The report also stated: his [Biebel's] friend Jim at the Columbus plant makes sure which media does or does not work. (Pl.Ex. 191). 47 The foregoing evidence supports DeLong's allegations of joint action between Washington Mills and BCS in regard to media sales to Pratt. The evidence suggests that BCS had contacts at Pratt which could provide an incentive for Washington Mills to coordinate with BCS in its dealings on the Pratt account, and that the two companies did in fact act jointly with respect to the Pratt account. 48 On the day following the October 1984 trip to the Columbus plant with BCS officials, van der Sande made a routine sales call on DeLong, who was actually servicing the Pratt account at the time. Van der Sande did not mention his visit the day before to the Columbus plant. In van der Sande's report of that meeting dated October 10, 1984, he stated that DeLong was not very happy with BCS, and P & W.... Harold does not play with a full deck either.... He is not all wrong about the B.C.S. situation, long term it may not work. Bob Bieble [sic] feels we are secure for at least 3 years unless Delong [sic] does not play the game. (Pl.Ex. 194). 49 The evidence that Washington Mills and BCS had worked together in developing the Pratt media; that the Pratt media was priced at a premium though it was in fact identical to generic media; that BCS's contacts at Pratt provided an incentive for joint action; that Washington Mills and BCS were continuing to work together on the Pratt account during the October, 1984 plant visit, long after DeLong had replaced BCS as the Pratt distributor; and that Washington Mills and BCS were conversing in October, 1984 about the good prospects for continuing the Pratt arrangement unless DeLong refused to play the game--all support DeLong's assertion that Washington Mills and BCS had agreed to pad the price of the Pratt media. 50