Just when you thought you’d heard the last of the Albertsons/Haggen drama, more news arises. The two retailers have reportedly brought their billion dollar lawsuit to a close for just over $5 million.
As we previously reported in September, Haggen filed the lawsuit against Albertsons after buying 146 stores in 2014, during the period where Albertsons was looking to buy the Safeway banner. Haggen sought over $1 billion in damages from Albertsons for allegedly having “sabotaged” its expansion into new markets and making misleading remarks to influence its decision to buy more than a hundred Albertsons and Safeway stores.
This also came on the heels of a separate lawsuit in July, where Albertsons filed a $40 million suit against Haggen in past due inventory for 32 acquired stores. Despite the mounting legal trouble, Albertsons has agreed to settle Haggen’s action by paying $5.75 million, according to the Portland Business Journal.
"It is unfortunate Albertsons has chosen to file what appears to be nothing more than a strike suit to avoid addressing its wrongful conduct,” Deborah Pleva, Communications Consultant for Haggen, wrote in a statement at the time of the lawsuit. “Haggen will mount a vigorous defense and aggressively prosecute its counterclaims.”
Ever since, however, both retailers have been engaging in business back and forth in the wake of Haggen’s selling off nearly all of its assets after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with Albertsons having purchased several Haggen stores at auction and agreeing to hire back hundreds of workers that had gone to Haggen with the sale of the initial 146 stores.
It was not addressed if Albertsons’ inventory lawsuit was included in the settlement.
