Unilever has reached a deal with Rose Acre Farms in an antitrust lawsuit that alleged egg companies conspired to fix prices.
Terms of the settlement were not revealed.
Conopco Inc., which does business as Unilever, was one of numerous egg product purchasers that filed a lawsuit against major egg producers of using the United Egg Producers’ (UEP) certification program to execute a price-fixing conspiracy that limited the supply of eggs and increase prices.
Rose Acre Farms, along with fellow egg companies R.W. Sauder Inc., and Ohio Fresh Eggs LLC, were cleared of the allegations by a Pennsylvania federal jury in 2018.
According to a Law 360 report, the jury at the time concluded that R.W. Sauder and Ohio Fresh Eggs were not involved in any antitrust conspiracy, while Rose Acre Farms was found to have participated in a conspiracy. However, the judge ruled that Rose Acre’s being part of what was considered to be a conspiracy was not enough to find the company liable.
The ruling that Rose Acre was not liable was appealed, and that appeal was upheld, but the settlement was reached, thus ending the litigation.
Other egg product purchasers that were plaintiffs in the initial case included: Safeway, SuperValu, Kroger, Hy-Vee, Albertson's, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., H.E. Butt Grocery Co., Giant Eagle Inc., Publix, Winn-Dixie, Roundy's Supermarkets, H.J. Heinz Co., C&S Wholesale Grocers, Kraft Foods Global, General Mills, Nestle USA, Kellogg Co. and Walgreen Co.
Sparboe Farms was one of the other egg companies named in the initial suit, but it reached a settlement in 2014. Sparboe did not admit guilt, but rather settled to “put the litigation behind it.”
Rose Acre Farms, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, is the second largest egg producer in the United States. At the conclusion of 2018, the company had a flock of 26.6 million hens.
