ALBANY — They could have called it “Operation: Kramer.”
In a plot similar to a “Seinfeld” episode, a New Jersey beverage company was hit with $550,000 in fines and a three-year suspension from selling in New York for circumventing the state’s bottle deposit law.
The company, North Bergen Beverage, sold tens of millions of beverage containers since 2013 to New York stores without collecting the required nickel deposit, as required by law, according to a joint announcement by the offices of Gov. Cuomo and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
By forgoing the nickel deposits, North Bergen Beverage was able to illegally undercut its competitors and denied the state millions of dollars in revenue it would have otherwise received when deposits are not redeemed by customers, state officials said.
“Companies have a legal and ethical responsibility to comply with the state’s environmental laws,” Cuomo said.
As part of the lawsuit settlement announced Friday, the company agreed to pay $400,000 in new fines above the $100,000 it previously paid and another $50,000 to cover the cost of the joint investigation conducted by Schneiderman’s office and the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Schneiderman and Cuomo said it was the largest penalty paid to New York by a beverage distributor over a bottle law violation.
North Bergen Beverage would face an additional $400,000 fine if it violates its three-year suspension from selling in New York.
“New York’s Bottle Bill is a hallmark environmental law — reducing litter, promoting recycling, and generating millions of dollars that benefit New Yorkers’ health and environment each year,” Schneiderman said.
He said the settlement “sends a clear message to all beverage distributors: if you do business in New York and break the Bottle Bill law, my office will hold you accountable.”
In the 1996 “Seinfeld” episode called “The Bottle Deposit,” characters Kramer and Newman look to turn a profit off the bottle deposit law by trying to drive a mail truck filled with bottles and cans to Michigan, which has a 10-cent deposit, twice New York’s nickel.
The settlement did not include an admission of liability by the company.
“The members of North Bergen Beverage settled the case for the best interest of the company,” said company lawyer Helen Mauch. “The members of North Bergen Beverage also made a strategic business decision to no longer sell regulated beverages in New York.”
