U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin has certified the plaintiff classes in the various class action lawsuits regarding price fixing in the poultry industry.
The plaintiff classes will be direct purchasers — like grocery stores; indirect purchasers — like restaurants —; and consumers — or the end user.
Antitrust allegations against poultry producers began in 2016 and allege that producers share internal data via Agri Stats to artificially decrease supply to increase prices, even though the cost of raising birds has gone down.
The poultry producers named in the lawsuits are:
- Perdue Farms LLC
- Mountaire Farms
- Foster Farms
- Koch Foods
- House of Raeford
- Wayne Farms
- Sanderson Farms
- Claxton Poultry Farms
- O.K. Foods
- Simmons Foods
- Case Foods
- Agri Stats
- Harrison Poultry
A few large producers paid settlements to exit the litigation like Tyson Foods Inc. with a settlement of $99 million, Pilgrim’s Pride with $75.5 million, Peco Foods Inc. with $1.9 million, George’s Inc. with $1.9 million and Fieldale Farms Corporation with $1.7 million.
Producers argued against the distinction of the three plaintiff classes saying that they have different levels of market share and buying power. Durkin struck down their argument, writing in an opinion May 27 that the allegations concern intentional supply restrictions and that the class distinctions are routine.
“Bargaining power may affect the prices ultimately paid by a particular plaintiff,” Durkin wrote. “But all participants in a commodity market exercise their bargaining power — regardless of strength — in the context of the market price, which is viewed by the industry as an objective reflection of value.”
Producers also opposed the certification by questioning the validity of the plaintiffs’ experts and by claiming the alleged price inflation was actually varied prices based on producer, cut and buyer. The judge rejected these arguments as well.
Koch Foods
Koch Foods Inc. Affiliates has joined Tyson and Perdue Farms in settling out of an antitrust lawsuit in Oklahoma which alleges that poultry producers are conspiring to drive down pay for chicken farmers.
The settlement was $15.5 million, Tyson’s was $21 million and Perdue Farms’ was $14.75 million.
