Wednesday, March 07, 2001
Tristate Business Summary
Chesley joins Cinergy gas customers' suit
Lawyer Stan Chesley has joined the legal battle on behalf of thousands of natural gas customers of Cinergy Resources who found their rates more than doubling this winter when the supplier unilaterally switched them from fixed-price to market-rate contracts.
Mr. Chesley's class-action lawsuit, which alleges fraud, breach of contract and violation of Ohio's consumer sales practices act, is at least the third filed in Hamilton County Common Please Court on behalf of an estimated 14,000 customers of the former Cinergy Corp. subsidiary.
The customers signed contracts locking in their gas rates at prices of about 35 cents per thousand cubic feet. In early 2000,Cinergy sold the business to a subsidiary of Licking Rural Electrification Inc. in Newark.
As wholesale gas prices skyrocketed this winter, the subsidiary, The Energy Cooperative, switched customers to market-rate contracts which more than doubled their gas rates.
The Chesley suit, filed on behalf of a Sayler Park customer, also names Cinergy Corp. as a defendant and seeks actual and punitive damages.
Spaghetti Factory eatery to return
The Old Spaghetti Factory will return to Cincinnati by the end of the year, becoming part of the redevelopment of Forest Fair mall in Forest Park.
The restaurant closed its location on Pete Rose Way downtown in 1998 for construction of Paul Brown Stadium. A new 10,500-square-foot restaurant is expected to open in November.
OSF International Inc., owner of the chain, operates 40 Old Spaghetti Factory restaurants.
Kroger plans Nashville move
The Kroger Co. is moving some of its distribution operations from Nashville, Tenn., to Louisville, resulting in up to 100 layoffs.
As many as 30 percent of the Nashville distribution center's 300 workers could be affected by the move, said David Tanksley, a business agent for Teamsters Local 327, the union representing employees at the facility.
Galaxy Logistics in Nashville, which handles Nashville distribution operations, notified the union Monday that its frozen foods, produce and dairy divisions will be moved to Kroger's distribution center in Louisville by June.
Layoffs probably would affect warehouse workers and drivers, the letter said.
— Staff and wire reports
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