Opinion ID: 2308852
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Steelcase Dealership

Text: Brenner claimed that a misapplication of the Steelcase Dealership discount jeopardized her investment in Arbee. Arbee's distribution of Steelcase products constitutes approximately seventy- to eighty-five-percent of its total sales. The Steelcase account is therefore one of Arbee's most valuable assets. Steelcase granted Arbee a discount-pricing arrangement for preferred customers, one of which was Prudential Insurance Company. In May 1985, defendants applied Prudential's eighteen-percent discount to an order placed with Steelcase on behalf of the United Nations (U.N.), which was not a preferred customer. Arbee had successfully obtained the U.N. order because it included the discount. Berkowitz claimed that the U.N. order was the result of a clerical error. However, not until this suit was instituted did Arbee repay Steelcase the approximately $18,000 discount that had been applied to the U.N. order. Nevertheless, the court determined that Steelcase's subsequent increase in Arbee's franchise to include the territories of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore tended to undermine plaintiff's claim that the improper discount had jeopardized Arbee's relationship with Steelcase.