Morrisons has halted its legal proceedings against David Webster, the former chairman of Safeway.

The supermarket, which bought Safeway in 2003, was pursuing Webster and 10 other former Safeway staff over alleged price-fixing activities that resulted in a multimillion-pound fine from the Office of Fair Trading.

Morrisons called off its pursuit of Webster earlier this year, according to the Financial Times.

But its case against the other former Safeway executives was due to resume in the High Court today.

“The claim brought against me by Safeway arising out of an ongoing inquiry by the OFT into alleged anti-competitive practices in the dairy products market in 2002 and 2003 was dropped in its entirety in August this year,” Webster, who is currently chairman of InterContinental Hotels, said in a statement.

“Safeway will be paying the costs that I have incurred in defending the claim, which I have always maintained was not only without precedent, but also unjust and inappropriate.”

Safeway was fined for agreeing to set prices of dairy goods with rivals.

Read more
OFT to pay back millions after dairy probe U-turn (30 April 2010)
Former Safeway boss Webster sued over dairy cartel fines (2 February 2010)

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