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An antitrust probe into the explosives industry that started with a bang in the 1990s has ended quietly with an order signed by a federal judge in Utah.
U.S. District Judge David Sam wrapped up the matter earlier this month by distributing the remaining $48,887 of a $60 million settlement in the case to the Salt Lake Community Action Program (SLCAP) and the American Antitrust Institute in Washington, D.C. SLCAP advocate Karen Silver said her organization expects to use its share - $16,133 - for advocacy efforts involving utilities.
The amount adds up to pocket change for the mining industry, but it is a welcome addition to the SLCAP's coffers.
"We could always use the money," Silver said.
The American Antitrust Institute, a nonprofit education and advocacy organization whose mission is to increase the role of competition, was awarded $32,754.
The institute and SLCAP were among the groups that applied for the leftover settlement funds - a standard procedure when there is a small amount of money remaining after the plaintiffs' claims have been satisfied and dividing it up among a large number of plaintiffs would be impractical.
The case has its roots in a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that began in 1992 into whether the manufacturers and distributors of commercial explosives were conspiring to fix prices, rig bids and allocate customers among themselves, according to Washington, D.C., attorney Richard McMillan, who represented mining companies that alleged they were victims of an antitrust scheme.
Three years later, two of the largest manufacturers of explosives pleaded guilty to antitrust violations. One of the companies, Salt Lake City-based DYNO Nobel Inc. - which was estimated to have 30 percent of the North American explosives market - paid a fine of $15 million, which was the largest fine ever in a criminal antitrust case at the time.
Fines against other manufacturers totaling millions of dollars followed, as well as civil lawsuits filed mostly by mining companies, the principal victims of the schemes. The suits essentially fell into two groups: A class action involving many smaller mining enterprises and other lawsuits filed by the larger companies.
The action, presided over by Sam in Salt Lake City, eventually was settled with payments totaling $60 million.
After divvying up the money based on the damage suffered by each individual plaintiff, there was change left from the interest that built up while the case was proceeding. Then, on June 1, the judge signed the order distributing the $49,000.
McMillan, a partner in the law firm of Crowell & Moring, who represented approximately 100 of the larger companies, said his group settled in 1998 and received its money within a month. His clients have declined to make the amount public but McMillan said it was bigger than the class action settlement.