Opinion ID: 2330622
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Brighton in Kansas

Text: In the relevant time period for this lawsuit, after April 12, 2001, Brighton has sold to more than 100 independent retailers in Kansas. Most of Brighton's retailers in the state are small boutiques or specialty stores, but Brighton also sells to certain department stores and specialty chains. The independent retailers typically carry products from both Brighton and other brands. There is only one Brighton Collectibles store in Kansas; it opened in December 2006. O'Brien, the class representative, testified that she owns numerous other brands of accessories and that she made purchases of these accessories in both department stores and specialty stores. O'Brien testified that she shops in all different types of retail establishments. Several of Brighton's Kansas retailers have sworn that they generally sell at the MSRP and do not discount unless an item is out of season or selling poorly. Further, the retailers swore that this is true for both Brighton and non-Brighton products. Ten Brighton retailers in Kansas who submitted affidavits in this case have sworn that they generally price products at keystone. These retailers also swore that their pricing of Brighton products would have been the same in the absence of Brighton's pricing policy. Four Kansas Brighton retailers have stated in affidavits that they voluntarily follow Brighton's pricing policies and that they had no agreement with Brighton to sell Brighton products at the suggested retail price. Since adopting its pricing policy, Brighton has not determined that any Kansas retailer violated the policy and has not refused to deal with or taken other adverse action against any Kansas retailer for an actual or suspected violation. However, Brighton did follow up on a report that one of its Kansas retailers may have been discounting. It concluded that the reported discounting had not occurred. Six independent retailers in Kansas submitted Heart Store applications for the years 2001 and 2002, and Brighton accepted the six as Heart Stores for those years. Three Kansas Heart Stores, as well as three other Brighton Kansas retailers, submitted luggage applications for 2003 and were accepted as luggage stores for that year.