Georgia Manufacturer of Food Service Equipment Hardware Pays $3.3 Million Fine for Role in Customer Allocation Conspiracy

A New York corporation, whose principal place of business is Newnan, Ga., was sentenced to pay a $3.3 million criminal fine for conspiring to allocate customers in the food service equipment hardware market, including walk-in refrigeration equipment, the Department of Justice announced August 17.

Kason Industries Inc., a food service equipment manufacturer, pleaded guilty on May 19, 2010, in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. Kason Industries and its former president, Peter A. Katz, were charged on May 6, 2010, with one count of participating in a conspiracy from December 2004 until at least December 2008, to allocate customers for food service equipment hardware sold in the United States and elsewhere. The department said that the purpose of the conspiracy was to reduce and eliminate competition in the sale of the food service equipment hardware manufactured or sold by Kason Industries, Katz and their co-conspirators. Katz, who also pleaded guilty, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 5, 2011.

Food service equipment hardware includes fabricated parts, such as cafeteria hardware, equipment legs and casters, and fabrication supplies, and walk-in refrigeration components, such as metal racks, door hinges, handles, latches, closers and panel fasteners.

According to court documents, Katz and co-conspirators agreed during meetings and telephone and e-mail discussions to allocate customers of food service equipment hardware; not to compete for one another’s protected customers or to submit intentionally high prices or bids to certain customers; to exchange prices to customers so as not to undercut one another’s prices; and to sell food service equipment hardware at collusive and noncompetitive prices.

Yesterday’s sentencing is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation of customer allocation in the food service equipment hardware industry. The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Atlanta Field Office and the FBI’s Atlanta Office.

Anyone with information concerning customer allocation or other anticompetitive conduct in the food service equipment hardware industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Atlanta Field Office at 404-331-7100 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.

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Georgia Association of Homes and Services for the Aging Announces Name Change

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Advancing the Future of Aging Services in GA -- Aging Services of Georgia is the new name of the 35-year-old association representing the state's 150-plus nonprofit housing and service providers for the aging. The rationale for the new identity, replacing Georgia Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (gahsa), is to position the public-service organization as the leading advocate of quality senior living and care today and into the future, officials explained. The new name becomes effective immediately.

"Aging research, market analyses and government funding sources suggest baby boomers and future generations will reside in environments much different than those available today," said Walter Coffey, the association's President and CEO. "Our new name Aging Services of Georgia simply and more inclusively reflects these new alternatives for seniors, such as home-based care, adult day services and community services."

To complement its representation for providers of senior living and care, many Aging Services of Georgia's resources now are accessible to older Georgians and the general public through its website, www.agingservicesga.org.

Aging Services of Georgia members provide a wide range of options which include, but are not limited to, senior housing, affordable housing, continuing care retirement communities, assisted living, skilled nursing and home and community-based care and adult day services - that collectively serve more than 127,000 older Georgians across the state. The association's comprehensive activities include advocating public policies, providing excellence in continuing education via the Georgia Institute on Aging, strengthening leadership development in the field of Aging Services, and producing communications and other resources by conducting a statewide consumer education campaign via the Center for Positive Aging.

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