Furniture execs wonder if it is time to pay the piper?

We all know what they say about payback.

Well, if an investigation set to get underway by a  fledgling coalition of case-goods importers, Chinese factories and a Seattle-based law firm gets legs, they could come running full speed at the group of domestic case goods makers that supported the now famous antidumping suit.

As first reported in our paper, this coalition has hired the law-firm of Garvey Schubert Barer to investigate alleged claims that certain Chinese manufacturers of wood bedroom furniture were able to pay settlement fees as a means of avoiding higher duties on those products.

Right now, nobody’s saying much, but you can take this one to the bank.  If the investigation is fruitful, you will be hearing a lot more about this in the months to come.

If fact, if this plays out, it is going to one long, hot summer.

Stay tuned.