Idaho Gets Small Piece Of Reebok Shoe Settlement $32,000 To Go For New Athletic Courts, Equipment

Thu., May 18, 1995

By Craig Welch craigw@olywa.net

A footwear giant will pay states $9.5 million to settle charges it stomped on consumers, but Idaho’s share amounts to little more than baby shoes.

Authorities say Reebok International Ltd., and subsidiary Rockport Co. Inc., broke anti-trust laws by forcing retailers to sell shoes at a price fixed by the shoemakers.

Two years ago the Federal Trade Commission, joined by attorneys general in all 50 states, put its foot down. Reebok settled the charges earlier this month without admitting wrongdoing.

Each state’s share of the booty was determined by its percentage of the U.S. population in 1990. Idaho’s population was 0.4 percent; Washington’s was 1.5 percent.

Idaho will get $32,000 - enough to buy 640 pairs of Reebok’s cheapest walking shoe or 250 pairs of its flashy basketball hightop, The Shaq. Washington will receive $147,000.

“In a case where you have all those shoes, it’s impossible to identify all the victims,” said Duane Thurman, a Washington assistant attorney general. “Anyone who bought them was a potential victim.

Price hikes probably averaged less than $2 per customer, he said. Cutting a check for each shoe buyer, if he or she could be found, would cost $5.

Instead, the money will pay for new athletic courts, running tracks or equipment and services used in athletic activities, said Idaho deputy attorney general Brett DeLange.

It’s a popular settlement option: When victims can’t be found, give the money to related charities.

The Reebok settlement mirrors a 1993 suit that charged the maker of Keds girls’ and women’s tennis shoes with price fixing.

A judge determined victims would be women ages 18 to 44. Washington’s share of the $7.2 million settlement - $106,000 - went to boys and girls clubs, a domestic violence shelter, to Special Olympics to recruit female competitors and to a mental health clinic to buy sneakers.

Washington and Idaho are expected to set up committees to determine how to shoehorn the money into several projects.

“Obviously, $147,000 isn’t going to buy you a new Kingdome, but every little bit helps,” Thurman said.

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