Levi Funds to Be Used on Consumer Projects

A legal deadlock over the fate of millions of dollars left over from a 1970s consumer settlement between California and Levi Strauss & Co. quietly ended last week, with the state releasing $4.4 million for consumer research and enforcement programs. About $2 million will go to create a research center for consumer health issues at UC Berkeley.

Consumers will sit alongside academics and health-care industry representatives on an advisory committee to determine the center’s agenda. Another $800,000 will pay to add two attorneys to the state attorney general’s antitrust section. The California Consumer Protection Foundation, a San Francisco-area nonprofit group that gives grants to other consumer organizations, will get $1 million. The remainder will help the attorney general, district attorney offices and other local agencies cover the costs of consumer investigations and education projects statewide.

The disposition, approved in San Francisco County Superior Court, ended a case begun more than 20 years ago, when the Federal Trade Commission accused Levi of illegally fixing prices on men’s and boy’s jeans between 1972 and 1976.

After it was sued by the state in 1978, the company agreed to settle the case for $12 million, without admitting wrongdoing. About 1 million Californians filed claims for refunds in the early 1980s. But the money sat, collecting interest and swelling to more than $20 million, as consumer groups and state budget wonks argued in court over who should get the cash left after claimants were paid.