Price Club Founder Is Sued by His Son
A son of Sol Price, founder of the Price Club chain of discount warehouses, sued his father and brother for $100 million on Wednesday.
In the lawsuit, Laurence Price, 45, claimed that his father, San Diego business executive and philanthropist Sol Price, tried to dictate the son’s relationship with his own children and seized his business when he disobeyed.
In an amendment to an earlier suit filed in Superior Court, Laurence Price also asked for asked for $100 million in punitive damages and unspecified general damages. Robert Price, his brother, also was named as a defendant.
Sol Price declined to comment on the case. A spokeswoman said he has not yet seen a copy of the suit. His attorney, Gerald McMahan, also declined comment.
Laurence Price’s original suit against Price Co. was filed in September, 1985. It was settled in arbitration and the son was awarded $3.5 million, said Laurence Price’s attorney, Marvin Mitchelson.
The company operates Price Club warehouse-type membership stores in California, Arizona and New Mexico that sell a wide variety goods at discounted prices.
The amended complaint alleges that the elder Price “is obsessed with controlling the lives of his family members” and once had a “close-knit family which prided itself on working together to develop their family enterprises.”
Laurence Price opened his first tire-installation businesses at Price Co.’s warehouse stores in 1979. In 1984, the rapidly growing company gave Laurence permission to construct buildings at each of its new locations. The agreement was supposed to last until the year 2000.
Arbitrators Ruling
However, the San Diego-based company terminated the contract in 1985, according to a Price Co. proxy statement, and the company offered to buy the tire centers from Laurence. He responded with arbitration proceedings and a lawsuit, both of which were aimed at keeping Price Co. from terminating the contract.
Arbitrators have ruled that Price Co. had a legal right to terminate the contract, and the company has operated the tire centers since March, 1986, according to a recent proxy statement. The company paid Laurence $2.6 million during fiscal 1986 and also gave him a $500,000 promissory note, according to the proxy. According to terms of that note, the company paid Laurence Price $48,091 in principal and $9,205 in interest during fiscal 1986.
Tells of Threat
When Laurence Price separated from his wife, attorneys hired by his father reached a settlement “satisfactory to Sol Price,” calling for the couple’s two teen-age sons, Jonas and Benjamin, to live with their mother, the suit said.
Laurence Price tried to buy a house in the same neighborhood as his ex-wife and sons, and his father threatened to “cause trouble for Laurence” if he interfered with the custody arrangement, the suit said.
Sol Price is “interfering with, disrupting and seeking to destroy Laurence Price’s relationship with his sons . . . going beyond all possible bounds of decency in a civilized community” and causing his son “severe emotional distress,” the suit said.
