An Illinois federal judge gave approval to Fieldale Farms to make a US$2.25 million exit from a class of food service distributors’ suit surrounding an alleged decade-long industrywide plot by poultry companies to increase chicken prices.
The company originally gave a proposal to settle in August of 2017.
The law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP filed the suit on September 14, 2016, according to a press release issued by the firm.
U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Durkin earlier in November approved Fieldale’s deal that settles claims brought by the distributors who had bought chickens directly from producers named in the antitrust litigation.
The direct purchasers of the poultry products asked for approval in late October, and won certification on Friday as well, according to a Law 360 report.
“Counsel for these buyers did not yet ask for fees from the deal, but Judge Durkin said when they do, they must alert the class and get court approval,” the report explained.
An August 2017 Wall Street Journal reported said that, While Fieldale is offering to settle, it is not admitting guilt as a part of the settlement. However, the company has offered to provide industry reports, phone records and other documents to plaintiffs’ attorneys, and would make five current of former employees available for interviews or depositions.
According to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, Fieldale Farms is a family owned poultry integrator based in Baldwin. It employs 4,700. Fieldale Farms produced 16 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2017, the same amount it produced in 2016. Its fiscal 2017 sales were $920 million, a decrease from $980 million in fiscal 2016.
Original complaint
The lawsuit alleged that poultry companies killed chickens and destroyed eggs to limit production and raise the price of chicken sold in the United States. Companies the lawsuit names include 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.
