Schneiderman busts Southern Tier trash haulers for price-fixing scheme

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Trash haulers Bert Adams Disposal and Taylor Garbage Service have confessed to breaking the law by colluding with each other to keep prices artificially high, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday.

“Bert Adams Disposal and Taylor Garbage Service illegally and secretly divided up their territory so they could rig the market and rip off their customers by charging inflated prices,” Schneiderman said in a release. He said the two dominate the trash-hauling market in Broome County.

Schneiderman said the companies employed the tactics from July 2014 to May 2016 and said the firms exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls and also conspired in person.

Elbert Adams, majority owner of Bert Adams Disposal, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of combination in restraint of trade and competition, the attorney general’s office said. Adams admitted in court that the companies refrained from bidding against each other for some business and submitted inflated bids to ensure customers would not switch haulers.

His business, Bert Adams Disposal, which has locations in Chenango Bridge and Norwich, pleaded guilty to the same charge and will pay $850,000 in criminal penalties, according to the attorney general’s office.

Additionally, Bert Adams Disposal employees Bert J. Adams and Christopher Kline pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of attempted combination in restraint of trade and competition. Each will pay a penalty of $37,500.

While Schneiderman said Taylor Garbage had confessed its involvement early and cooperated with the investigation, the company will still pay a $500,000 civil penalty and company president and co-owner Robert Taylor will pay a $50,000 penalty. The business also agreed to appoint a compliance officer.

Taylor Garbage Service — which has locations in Vestal, Owego, and Barton — issued an apology Tuesday afternoon. “We recently paid a penalty for our involvement with one of our competitors, who pleaded guilty to felony charges this past Monday. For this involvement we sincerely ask for your forgiveness,” the company said in a statement.

The apology noted the incidents happened years ago, that Taylor Garbage cooperated with the investigation, and that the business has appointed a compliance officer, as it promised.

“While the infraction was a regrettable mistake, we hope you will accept our apology and our commitment that it will not happen again,” Taylor Garbage said.

Contact McChesney at cmcchesney@cnybj.com