Nevada joins suit against bookseller

The lawsuit, filed in California, names Baker & Taylor of Charlotte, N.C., one of nation's largest book wholesalers. It accuses the company of contracting with public schools and libraries to sell books at specific discounts from the publisher's retail price, but then failing to provide the discount.

The lawsuit said Baker & Taylor programmed its computers to deliberately and systematically defraud schools and libraries. When certain customers suspected they were overcharged, the company told them the charges were a mistake and then rolled back the price for that customer.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Richard Linstrom said there appears to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in overcharges to libraries, school districts and institutions of higher learning in Nevada.

Linstrom said he couldn't reveal the names of the districts that may have been overcharged because of a confidential federal report.

The lawsuit seeks to recover damages and a permanent injunction against the company. Also named defendant was W. R. Grace-Connecticut, which formerly owned Baker & Taylor.

It was initially filed by the Federal Trade Commission in federal court in San Francisco and the states intervened in the civil action.

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