Tyson Foods agreed to a $10.5 million settlement in a lawsuit in which Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson accused the company of conspiring with other poultry companies in an effort to drive up the price of chicken.
Ferguson announced on October 26 that he filed a lawsuit against the following companies: Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Sanderson Farms, Perdue Farms, Koch Foods, Mountaire Farms, Wayne Farms, Amick Farms, George’s, Peco Foods, House of Raeford, Fieldale Farms, Case Foods, Mar-Jac Poultry, Claxton Poultry Farms, Simmons Foods, O.K. Foods, Harrison Poultry and Agri Stats. Wayne Farms and Sanderson Farms have since merged into one combined company, Wayne-Sanderson Farms.
When Ferguson announced the initial lawsuit filed in the King County Superior Court, he alleged that those companies coordinated to reduce production during 2008-09 and 2011-12, resulting in significant high prices. He further asserted that the companies engaged in an illegal bid rigging scheme from 2011 to 2019.
With Tyson’s settlement, announced by Ferguson’s office via a press release, Tyson Foods becomes the third company to reach a settlement. Other companies to previously do so were Mar-Jac Poultry and Fieldale Farms, which agreed to pay $725,000 and $475,000, respectively.
A spokesman for Tyson Foods emailed the following statement to WATT Global Media: “Tyson Foods reached a settlement with Washington’s Office of the Attorney General to settle all claims related to the sale of broiler chicken products. While Tyson does not admit any liability as part of the settlement, it believes that the settlement was in the best interests of the company and its shareholders in order to avoid the uncertainty, expense and burden of protracted litigation.”
As part of the court order, Tyson Foods will cooperate with the Washington Attorney General’s office to produce information and documentation relevant to the case against the other alleged co-conspirators. Moreover, the company entered into a legally binding agreement to conduct internal training and certify that it has corporate policies that ensure the company follows state and federal antitrust laws. Under the terms of the consent decree, if Tyson Foods engages in price-fixing or other anticompetitive conduct in the next five years, the Attorney General’s Office can go to court to seek further civil penalties.
Ferguson and his staff are working on a plan to distribute these recoveries to assist Washington residents harmed by the price-rigging conspiracy.
While Tyson, Mar-Jac and Fieldale have not admitted to any wrongdoing and three federal trials related to alleged collusion in the poultry industry failed to reach any convictions, a comment issued by Ferguson in his press release indicated he believes collusion did take place.
“These corporate executives make more money than most Washingtonians can imagine, yet they decided to cheat those hardworking Washington families in order to satisfy their greed,” Ferguson said. “We will do everything in our power to make Washingtonians whole for the harm done to them by this price-rigging conspiracy.”
