Door Maker to Plead Guilty To Price-Fixing Charges
May 12, 2011
WASHINGTON -- A Vermont door manufacturer agreed to pay a criminal fine of $1.5 million and plead guilty to price-fixing charges, ending the Justice Department's 2 1/2-year investigation of illegal collusion in the residential-door industry. The department charged Michigan Birch Door Manufacturers Inc. of Ludlow, Vt., with conspiring with other door makers not to compete on prices throughout 1993. The companies discussed prices and their intentions about increasing prices on doors sold to certain U.S. customers, the department said. The doors are used chiefly in residential basements, bedrooms and bathrooms. Michigan Birch is a unit of Jeld-Wen Inc. of Klamath Falls, Ore., which was not implicated in the case because it bought Storey Steed after the collusion occurred. Jeld-Wendie's board issued a statement saying the company ``has taken steps to ensure that the Michigan Birch operations meet Jeld-Wendie's high standard of business conduct.'' The case is the sixth filed in the department's investigation of the door industry, which has resulted in the assessment of more than $8.5 million in criminal fines.
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