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Home My WebLink About06-02-2009 Attorney General's Litigation Hold Notice/Information RequestJUN 0 3 2009 BROWN, GARGANESE, WEISS & D'AGRESTA,CRA-OFr v THE CITy'CLE_ Attorneys at Law Debra S. Babb-Nutcher" Offices in Orlando, Joseph E. Blitch Ft. Lauderdale & Tampa Usher L. Brown' Suzanne D'Agresta" Anthony A. Garganese° William E. Reischmann, Jr, J.W. Taylor Jeffrey S. Weiss *Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer "Board Certified City, County $ Local Government Law 'Board Certified Appellate Practice June 2, 2009 Via Hand Deiivery Mr. Kevin Smith, City Manager City of Winter Springs 1126 E. S.R. 434 Winter Springs, FL 32708 RE: Attorney General's Litigation Hold Notice/Information Request Dear Kevin: Tara L. Barrett Vivian P. Cocotas Robin Gibson Drage Gregg A. Johnson Katherine W. Latorre" Bridgette M. Miller Alfred Truesdell Lynn M. Vouis Gary M. Glassman Erin J. O'Leary' Amy J. Pitsch Catherine D. Reischmann" Of Counsel Our office has reviewed the enclosed follow-up letter from the Florida Attorney General's office in reference to the Attorney General planning to file a lawsuit against certain manufacturers of oil, airand transmission vehicle replacement filters who allegedly coordinated and artificially fixed prices, as I explained in my April 22, 2009 letter to you. The letter is requesting that the City complete the enclosed information request and provide all documentation and data related to your purchase of aftermarket vehicle replacement filters. The letter also requests that you forward this information request to all your departments that independently maintain their vehicles and provide their name and contact information to the Office of the Attorney General. Please note that this is a time sensitive issue, and needs to be completed by Friday, June 26`h and returned to: Jennifer Morgan -Byrd -Paralegal Office of the Attorney General PL-01, The Capitol Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050 111 N. Orange Ave, Suite 2000 • P.O. Box 2873 •Orlando, Florida 32802-2873 Orlando (407) 425-9566 Fax (407) 425-9596 • Kissimmee (321) 402-0144 • Cocoa (866) 425-9566 - Ft. Lauderdale (954) 670-1979 Website: www.oriandolaw.net - Email: firm®orlandolaw.net Mr. Kevin Smith, City Manager City of Winter Springs June 2, 2009 Page 2 You may also scan and e-mail the information request to Jennifer Morgan -Byrd at Jennifer.MoraanBvrd(&-myfloridalegal.com. If you have any questions, please give me a call or my assistant, Jamie Lightfoot. Sincerely, ate Latorre Assistant City Attorney KW L/jel enclosure cc: Andrea Lorenzo-Luaces, City Clerk BILL WCOLLUM ATTORNEY GENERAL STATE OF FLORIDA May 20, 2008 Dear Public Entities: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL CHRISTOPHER R. HUNT Assistant Attorney General The Capitol Tallahassee FL 32399-1050 Telephone (850) 414-3859 Fax (850) 488-9134 Christopher.Hunt@myfloridalegal.com This letter is a follow-up to the Litigation Hold Notice that you received within the past few weeks. The Antitrust Division of the Florida Attorney's Office is compiling damages information pursuant to the lawsuit we filed alleging certain manufacturers of vehicle replacement filters illegally fixed prices. To help us determine how you have been affected by the alleged illegal activities of certain manufacturers, the Attorney General's Office requests you to complete the enclosed information request and provide all documentation and data related to your purchase of aftermarket vehicle replacement filters. Please complete the information request by Friday, June 26th and return to: Jennifer Morgan -Byrd, Paralegal Office of the Attorney General PL-01, The Capitol Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050 Alternatively, you may scan and email the information request to Jennifer Morgan -Byrd at Jennifer.MorganByrd@myfloridalegal.com. Please forward this information request to all your departments that independently maintain their vehicles and provide our office with the name and contact information of the person receiving the information request. If you are not responsible for the purchase of replacement filters for your vehicles, please forward this information request to the person responsible for this task and provide our office with the name and contact information of the person receiving the information request. If you have any individual questions or concerns about this questionnaire, or the Attorney General's investigation, you may contact Eli Friedman, Assistant Attorney General, at (850) 414-3534 or myself at (850) 414-3859. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Sincerely, Christopher R. Hunt Assistant Attorney General FLORIDA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL ANTITRUST DIVISION Information Request to Public Entities Regarding Replacement Filters Thank you for your assistance in our litigation to determine how you have been affected by the alleged illegal activity by manufacturers of aftermarket filters. Please forward this information request to all departments within your entity that independently maintain vehicles and provide our office with the contact information for the person receiving the information request. If you are not responsible for the purchase of replacement filters for your entity's vehicles, please forward this information request to the person responsible for this task and provide our office with contact information for the person receiving this information request. You may contact our office through Jennifer Morgan -Byrd by email at Jennifer.MorganByr�mvfloridale al com or by telephone at (850) 414-3857. The type of replacement filters relevant to this information request include oil filters, air filters, fuel filters and transmission filters. Public Entity Name and Department: 1. Person responding to this information request: Name and Title: Phone & Email Address: 2. Does/did your entity service your vehicles internally? YES (If your answer is YES, please answer questions 3 through 6 in Section 1) NO (If your answer is NO, please answer questions 7 and 8 in Section 2) BOTH (Please answer questions 3 through 8 in Sections 1 and 2) SECTION 1: QUESTIONS FOR PUBLIC ENTITIES THAT HAVE EVER MAINTAINED THEIR VEHICLES INTERNALLY 3. How does/ did your entity purchase replacement filters? (select all that apply) Using the State of Florida contract Using a contract from a Request for Proposal or Invitation to Bid Directly from a local business Directly from a manufacturer of the filters Other (please describe below) Page 1 of 3 Continents: 4. Please provide the estimated annual expenditures for the purchase of replacement filters? 5. Please provide the following purchase information for the time period from January 1, 1999 to the present: a. Filter Type (oil, fuel, air or transmission) b. Replacement Filter Vendor c. Manufacturer d. Brand e. Filter Model Number f. Quantity purchased g. Unit Price (price paid for each filter) h. Further discounts, rebates, free product, etc. (if applicable) Please provide the above information in Microsoft Excel. If you are unable to provide the above purchase information in Microsoft Excel, please provide the purchase information in the format in which it is kept and describe below the information you have. 6. Please provide copies of documentation that can provide us with additional information about pricing negotiations for your replacement filters. Examples of relevant documents that fall within the time period from January 1, 1999 to the present include RFP, ITB, contracts with vendors and invoices. Please see the end of the information request for details on how to send us copies of these documents. Page 2 of 3 SECTION 2: OUESTIONS FOR PUBLIC ENTITIES THAT HAVE NEVER MAINTAINED THEIR VEHICLES INTERNALLY 7. Please provide the name and contact information, including email addresses, of the business, agency or public entity who maintains your vehicles: 8. If you take your vehicles to a local business to be serviced, please provide copies of all the invoices from the business that replaces filters in your vehicles for the time period from January 1, 1999 to the present. Please send the copies of the invoices to Jennifer Morgan -Byrd via email to Jennifer.MorganB rrdd@axnyfloridale al.com or by regular mail to the address provided at the end of this information request. LITIGATION HOLD NOTICE: Please keep and maintain until further notice all original documents which contain information responsive to this information request. Please return this information request with data and/ or copies of documents, by email or regular mail, to: Jennifer Morgan -Byrd Antitrust Division Office of the Attorney General PL 01, The Capitol Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1050 850-414-3857 850-488-9134 (fax) Jennifer.MorganBvrdna,myfloridalegal.com Thank you for your assistance and cooperation. Page 3 of 3 i W 00 J a W m vD M Q C J Q' M O O c�� Z 'C J Q 2 m4aW c d c ,' QU•-� a F rWWn AS A 0 N � 0 � P N M y b w HLi�I� %.L 10 3H1 d0 aOIdzjO S`JNfl�dS 8=IINIM d0 .1110 `� 60OZ £ o Nnr