Handbag Manufacturer: An Evidentiary Question

• Author: Cecil C. Kuhne III
• Pages: 25-28

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Handbag Manufacturer:

An Evidentiary

Question

Excel Handbag Co., Inc. v. Edison Brothers Stores, Inc.

630 F.2d 379 (5th Cir. 1980)

Excel Handbag Co., Inc., manufactures women’s handbags, and it sold

them to Edison Brothers Stores, Inc. for resell through its chain of

retail stores. Excel Handbag and Edison Stores enjoyed pleasant busi-

ness relations for twenty-ve years until the present litigation arose.

Joseph Fingerhut, an employee of Edison Stores, was in charge of

handling all of Edison’s handbag orders. In the spring of 1976, Edi-

son Stores under took an extensive invest igation into allegations t hat

Fingerhut had accepted bribes from handbag vendors, including Excel

Handbag. e investigation was conducted primarily by Herbert Rob-

inson, an attorney with considerable experience in such matters, and