The largest broiler companies in the United States have again been targeted in a class-action lawsuit, alleging that the companies conspired to manipulate chicken prices.
The lawsuit was filed on June 29 in an Illinois federal court on behalf of supermarket chains Kroger, Albertsons Companies and Hy-Vee, reported Arkansas Online. Florida-based law firm Kenny Nachwalter is representing the plaintiffs.
Similar lawsuits
The most recent suit is follows others filed on behalf other grocery retailers and consumers.
In 2016, a suit was filed against Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s, Sanderson Farms, Simmons Foods, Koch Foods, JCG Foods, Wayne Farms, Mountaire Farms, Peco Foods, Foster Farms, House of Raeford Farms, Fieldale Farms, George’s Inc. and O.K. Foods, in which the suit alleged that poultry companies killed chickens and destroyed eggs to limit production and raise the price of chicken sold in the United States.
Another class-action lawsuit was filed in January on behalf of Sysco, U.S. Foods Holding Corp. and Winn-Dixie Stores, against many of the same companies, alleging that beginning in 2008, chicken companies began to coordinate to cut the country’s chicken supply to drive up wholesale prices.
Just before the filing of the most recent lawsuit against the nation’s largest broiler companies, another lawsuit was filed against AgriStats and leading U.S. pork companies Tyson Foods, Hormel Foods, Smithfield Foods, JBS, Clemens Foods, Seaboard Foods, Triumph Foods and Indiana Packers. In that piece of litigation, the defendants were accused of sharing private information about their companies with their competitors through AgriStats. Hormel Foods publicly stated that it felt the lawsuit lacked merit and that it would defend itself in court.
A similar lawsuit targeting accusing egg companies of collusion in an effort to raise prices, that dates back to 2008, ended earlier this month in a jury favoring plaintiffs Rose Acre Farms, R.W. Sauder and Ohio Fresh Eggs.
