S.C. Johnson Wins Award In Kickback Scheme

A jury awarded consumer products giant S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. $147 million in damages Tuesday to compensate it for losses suffered in a trucking kickback scheme.

The Racine-based maker of products like Ziploc and Glade sued its former transportation director, Milton Morris, and a dozen other people and companies alleging a widespread scheme to bilk it out of millions of dollars. The company had asked for more than $100 million in damages.

The company claimed Morris, trucking company owner Thomas Buske, and others inflated rates and pocketed the excess. They paid each other with trips to places such as Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, rounds of golf and cash transferred through poker games.