CRIME & COURTS

Iowa school-lunch lawsuit sees more than 20,000 claims

Associated Press

DES MOINES, Ia. – More than 20,000 claims have been filed by parents seeking part of a $1.9 million class-action lawsuit settlement over food bidding at hundreds of Iowa schools, according to attorneys handling the case.

The claims filed since the settlement was announced Sept. 2 cover more than 47,000 students, said Elizabeth Fegan, an attorney for parents who sued Martin Brothers Distributing Co., the Iowa Educators Corp. and the Iowa Association for Educational Purchasing.

Fegan called the surge in numbers within a two-week period exciting.

“I think it reflects that when families send their kids to school they don’t expect to be defrauded or to be overcharged,” she said. “I think it’s a reaction to 10 years of no competitive bidding for school food and families wanting to get their money back.”

Martin Brothers of Cedar Falls was accused of conspiring with Iowa Educators Corp. and Iowa Association for Educational Purchasing for years to monopolize the business of selling food at schools across the state. The lawsuit, filed in 2011, said the result was students being overcharged because there wasn’t healthy competition in the market to keep the prices down.

The defendants maintain that they did nothing wrong and that the process was fair. They reached the settlement to avoid costly litigation, according to one of their attorneys.

“There was no admission of liability or wrongdoing,” said Deb Tharnish, an attorney representing Martin Brothers. “It made economic sense to get the case resolved.”

For several years, Iowa Educators Corp. oversaw the food bidding process for hundreds of schools. The Iowa Association for Educational Purchasing later took over that job.

During that time, Martin Brothers became the primary food distributor despite little transparency about how the company won the bid, the lawsuit claimed.

Stephen Holtman and John Cortesio Jr., attorneys for Iowa Educators Corp., said they had no comment because the case is still pending. A message left for Iowa Association for Educational Purchasing representatives was not immediately returned Friday.

In a separate agreement, those organizations agreed to pay $150,000 through insurance for an escrow fund to cover certain costs. They also agreed to change the contract bidding process, including making prices publicly available.

Parents and others have until the end of September to file a claim to receive up to $3.50 per student per year. A judge is expected to finalize the settlement in early November.