Re: B&T Lawsuit

[Pat Wallace <DENWALL@AOL.COM>]

I would like to comment upon a recent post from Raymond Buchanan:

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Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997
From: Raymond Buchanan <rbuchana@mcls.rochester.lib.ny.us>
Director, Fairport Public Library
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib@nysernet.org>
Subject: Re: B&T Lawsuit

  I like to believe that you are innocent until proven guilty.  I could
not join a suit against a vendor that I have dealt with for years based
on the skimpy information that has appeared in the media.  Whistle
blowers are to often former disgruntled employees.  Am I concerned about
this?  Of course!  But let us keep an open mind.

Raymond F. Buchanan
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I would not agree that the information provided so far in the media is
so "skimpy" or does not give good reason to be vary wary.  Please read
the excerpts below  to see that this is more than a "whistleblower suit."

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(C) 1997 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
http://starbulletin.com
Feb. 4, 1997
State joining probe book distributor
Baker & Taylor overcharged libraries and
schools, a suit contends
By Christine Donnelly
Star-Bulletin

The lawsuit was filed in California because that state is Baker &AMP
Taylor's biggest customer, Havian said. It is not a class action, and
other states with similar claims involving taxpayers' money - including
potentially Hawaii - must file their own suits, he said, adding, "I
assume your libraries may have been overcharged."

The federal government joined the lawsuit, citing the False Claims Act,
because some of the 15,000 or so libraries among the potential victims
nationwide are federal institutions or used federal money, said Frank
Hunger, an assistant U.S. attorney general, who heads the Justice
Department's Civil Division.

The federal government can seek redress for federal funds allegedly
defrauded anywhere in the nation.
<..............>
State Sen. Marshall Ige...was not surprised by the
accusations.

"Look at what they did to us xxx What a ripoff. They laughed all the way
to the bank, at our taxpayers' expense," said Ige, who wants to cancel
the contract but is proceeding carefully because "it seems to be air
tight in their favor."

A state senator investigating Baker &AMP Taylor's dealings locally said
Hawaii's attorney general should decide quickly whether a state lawsuit
is warranted.

"If we've been a victim, we need to recapture lost funds and the only
way to do that is pursue it legally," said state Sen. Rod Tam,
co-chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Justice Dept. Joins Suit Against Book Wholesaler
Firm Allegedly Overcharged Libraries, Schools
By David Streitfeld and David Segal
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 4 1997; Page C01
The Washington Post

"We think the suit has merit," said Justice spokesman Joe Krovisky. "We
investigated the case intensely."

The suit was filed under a provision of the False Claims Act that allows
individuals to sue companies defrauding the government. A Justice
Department spokesman said it had intervened in 15 percent of such cases
over the past decade, and had been "successful in virtually all of
them."

Officials at Baker & Taylor said   "If you ask 10 different libraries to
describe
which of their books are trade and which aren't, you will get 10 different
 answers,"......Eric Havian, the attorney who initially filed the case,
countered that,
"the idea that a trade book means anything that they say it means is
absurd and contrary to the understanding of virtually everyone in the
publishing industry."

(C) Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company
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<http://www.examiner.com">
San Francisco Examiner Home
Monday, Feb. 3, 1997  #183; Page A 2

Firm inflated book prices, suit alleges
Schools, libraries said to have victimized; U.S. says it will prosecute

Seth Rosenfeld    OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

The suit is believed to allege the nation's largest-ever fraud in the
book wholesaling industry, according to a lawyer for the whistle-blowers.
Although the case stems from complaints made by a former Baker &
Taylor salesman and a Richmond, Va., the U.S.Department of Justice
has decided to prosecute it, federal officials confirmed Monday.

         "The government doesn't like library fraud,"  said  Assistant U.S.
Attorney Mary Beth Uitti.  A federal  investigation found the complaint had
merit, she added.  Eric Havian, the San Francisco lawyer for the
whistle-blowers, said,  "It's particularly unconscionable that they are
largely
victims who are least sophisticated and least able to afford the inflated
 prices. School budgets are tight enough."
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Patricia Wallace
Chair, Hawaii Working Group (ALA Social Responsibility Round Table /
Alternatives in Print Division)
SLIS graduate student, TX Women's University
1st-3rd Multiage Teacher
Harry Stone Montessori Magnet School
Dallas, TX
Denwall@aol.com