Suit Alleges Price Fixing by Steelcase

Los Angeles County authorities filed an antitrust suit Wednesday charging office furnishings giant Steelcase Inc. with price fixing.

A spokeswoman at the company’s Grand Rapids, Mich., headquarters said company officials had not seen the suit and would have no comment.

Steelcase, which sells about $1.8 billion worth of office equipment worldwide each year, employs about 1,000 people at its million-square-foot West Coast manufacturing plant in Tustin.

There are no indications that the suit would affect manufacturing. It seeks unspecific damages and an injunction to stop the alleged illegal pricing practices.

In the suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the district attorney’s office charged that Steelcase engaged in price fixing by getting dealers to agree to certain retail prices or by setting wholesale prices so high that dealers were unable to compete by cutting retail prices unless they were willing to lose money on each sale.

“From what I’ve seen, it’s hundreds, if not thousands, of times that this has occurred,” he said. “I have no reason to suspect that this is limited only to Los Angeles County.”

A spokesman for the Orange County district attorney’s office said the office would defer to Los Angeles County authorities and not file a similar suit.