The State - News from Dec. 4, 1986

A poll of Californians entitled to refunds for purchases of Levi jeans in the 1970s indicates that they overwhelmingly favor using an expected $5 million in unclaimed funds for consumer education and litigation, lawyers for consumer groups said in San Francisco. Under a court-approved settlement of a price-fixing case brought by the state against Levi Strauss, the company did not admit wrongdoing but did agree to provide an estimated $17 million in rebates to 1.4 million people who bought allegedly overpriced jeans. But $5 million or more may go unclaimed, and state officials want that money to go to the state Treasury, while consumer groups want a trust established to advance consumer causes. An independent poll showed an 8-to-1 majority favoring the trust, the groups said. A San Francisco Superior Court judge will rule on the issue later this month.