OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada isn't biting on an appeal by three of Canada's largest chocolate makers stemming from a lawsuit that accused them of conspiring to raise chocolate prices in this country.
The top court on Thursday declined to hear a case brought by Nestle, Mars and Hershey's.
In 2007, the companies, as well as Cadbury, faced several lawsuits in Canada and the United States accusing them of fixing the price of their products.
Another company, chocolate distributor Itwal Ltd., allegedly participated with price maintenance.
If the accusations were true, the group would have been in violation of federal competition laws under the Competition Act.
Cadbury and Itwal settled, with Cadbury paying nearly $5.8 million to Metro Enterprises, a Windsor, Ont.-based vending machine business.
The two companies that settled received a court order preventing the three remaining companies from suing them to cover any financial penalties the court battle might impose.
The three chocolate giants who didn't settle were trying to fight that ruling in the Supreme Court.
The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the group's appeal in December 2010 and the Supreme Court dismissed the trio's application for appeal Thursday.
As is its custom, the top court did not reveal the reasons for its decision not to hear the case.
Read more: http://www.canada.com/Supreme+Court+bars+chocolate+makers+appeal/5066262/story.html#ixzz1RUoYGNja
