FAIR urges retailers to go to class
By Wendy Wilson -- Video Business, 7/10/2000
JULY 10 | LAS VEGAS--Retailers were urged Sunday to support the pending antitrust suit against Blockbuster and the studios by contacting the lead attorney on the case to indicate their willingness to be a part of the proposed class-action suit.
Bob Webb, VP of licensing for Video City, owner of four Video Revue locations and one of the founding members of the Fairness Alliance for Independent Retailers (FAIR), told attendees at the Rally Round the Indy Flag meeting that a substantive show of their commitment to the suit could go a long way toward proving to a judge that a viable class exists for the case.
"We have to show a big list of people that say they've been hurt," Webb said. "I would beg you to take down this number," he said, providing lead attorney James Branton's name and toll-free phone number (800.526.5297). Webb said retailers who call Branton will be asked to formally express their desire to join the class and to hire the firm to represent them, free of charge. These retailers' names will be provided to the judge.
Currently, the federal antitrust suit charging Blockbuster and its six supplier co-defendants with preferential pricing practices is locked on the issue of class certification. Last month, the defendants responded in federal court for the Western District of Texas to retailers' request for class certification, but those responses were sealed. The final written arguments on the matter are due Sept. 15, Webb said, with a judge's decision hoped for as early as October.
Webb, along with plaintiff and VSDA board member John Merchant, of 49er Video Superstores, Sacramento, Calif., stressed to the more than 30 retailers at the rally the importance of class certification.
"If we win class certification, we believe we've won 60% to 70% of the whole battle," Webb said.
He cited "estimates" he had been "given" of between $7 million to $10 million that studios have already spent on legal fees as evidence of the importance of the class-certification issue.
The FAIR contingent on the independent panel--which also included plaintiff Dave Stevenson, of Big Picture Video, Liverpool, N.Y.--fielded questions from the audience about what might happen to the legal effort if the class isn't certified.
"If class certification isn't granted, do we have a commitment from you guys that you'll see this through litigation?" new VSDA board chairman Tom Warren asked the panelists, alluding to the question of how funds contributed by retailers to the legal effort might then be handled.
Stevenson and Merchant cited the constantly changing nature of the litigation as being prohibitive in predicting what their future decisions about the case could be, but they reiterated their commitment to the suit.
"We're going to come out of this with compensatory damages and better revenue-sharing deals," Merchant said confidently. "We're going to win."
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