Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 4/1/19


Major consumer packaged goods companies joined the fray Friday, filing another lawsuit alleging that the nation’s largest chicken processors colluded to inflate prices from 2008 to 2016, according to court documents.

Conagra Brands Inc., Pinnacle Foods inc., Kraft Heinz Foods Co., Nestlé USA Inc. and Nestlé Purina PetCare Co. say Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride, Koch Foods and several other major producers conspired with market intelligence firm Agri Stats to kill breeder hens in order to reduce broiler supply and manipulated price indices to raise prices and overcharge customers. The suit seeks a jury trial.

The latest lawsuit joins a pile of similar litigation filed in the last three years by farmers, supermarket chains and restaurant chains that have been combined into one big case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.

In their compliant, the new plaintiffs quote Judge Thomas Durkin’s Nov. 20, 2017, order denying the industry’s motions to dismiss the case: “There is simply too much unusual market movement, unusual public statements, unusual information sharing through Agri Stats, and a coincidence of business strategies that make dismissal of Plaintiffs’ claims at this point in the case inappropriate.”
Other defendants named in the latest lawsuit are Sanderson Farms Inc., House of Raeford Farms Inc., Mar-Jac Poultry Inc., Perdue Farms Inc., Wayne Farms LLC, Fieldale Farms Corp., George’s Inc., Simmons Foods Inc., O.K. Foods Inc., Harrison Poultry, Foster Farms LLC, Claxton Poultry Farms Inc., Mountaire Farms Inc., and Agri Stats.

Last fall, Fieldale Farms filed a motion asking Durkin to approve its $2.25 million settlement with chicken buyers in the original lawsuit. As part of the “icebreaker” settlement, Baldwin, Ga.-based Fieldale Farms agreed to cooperate with the plaintiffs in their prosecution of the remaining 13 defendants. The plaintiffs, in turn, agreed to release claims against Fieldale Farms.
Durkin granted preliminary approval of that motion in mid-February.

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