States Move to Subpoena Staples Records

Maryland and other states moved to subpoena merger records from Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc., after the two office superstore chains refused to turn over the records voluntarily. The Maryland state attorney general’s office announced it had served subpoenas Tuesday, and California prosecutors said they would serve papers today. The Federal Trade Commission is already in U.S. District Court seeking to block the proposed $4-billion merger, contending it would raise prices to consumers. Kathleen Foote of the California attorney general’s office said her office expected to serve the subpoenas today, as were New York prosecutors, officials there said. The states asked Staples and Office Depot to let them look at the records obtained by the FTC. But the chains won a ruling in federal court late Monday that kept secret hundreds of boxes of proprietary documents containing price and strategic information. Under the ruling, the states will be permitted to look at the material only if they become parties to the case and are bound by the outcome. The states said they needed to review the material before deciding what legal action to take. An attorney for Staples said the chains had not decided how to respond to the subpoenas.