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NORWALK--Two lawsuits have been filed against Stew Leonard's, the grocery store whose "customer is always right" philosophy has made it famous around the world.
One of the suits, which contains allegations that Stew Leonard's store in Danbury overcharged customers on sales tax, echoes a federal criminal investigation into suspected tax evasion at the Norwalk store that began more than a year ago.
The second lawsuit claims company president Stew Leonard Jr. stole the idea of establishing a "Stew Leonard's University," which teaches business techniques, from a man who says he met with Leonard about the idea before the venture began.
The lawsuit that contains the overcharging claim was filed Oct. 1 in Danbury Superior Court by Terrence D. Rickert, a former security guard at the Danbury store, who claims he was wrongfully dismissed by the company.
Rickert said he was fired Dec. 1, 1991, not for the reasons the store gave him, but because he blew the whistle about cash registers at the store that he claims overcharged customers sales tax.
On Oct. 1, 1991, two months before Rickert was dismissed, Connecticut reduced its sales tax from 8 percent to 6 percent
Rickert, who began work in mid-August, contends some machines at the Danbury store charged more than the correct rate.
Stew Leonard's "had in fact been improperly setting cash machines in its Christmas tree and decoration department to charge an excessive rate of sales tax," Rickert's suit alleges. The extra money "upon information and belief was not forwarded to the Department of Revenue Services, but was retained by the store."
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