Source: Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 6/27/19



A federal judge ruled today that the U.S. Department of Justice can intervene in a lawsuit accusing the nation’s largest chicken companies of conspiring to inflate prices between 2008 and 2016, according to media reports.

U.S. Judge Thomas Durkin in the northern district of Illinois granted the DOJ’s request to intervene in the case after the agency last week said it launched a criminal probe into the price-fixing allegations, according to a Reuters report.

At today’s hearing, Durkin also ordered a three-month halt on part of the litigation, including subpoenas and depositions from employees, Reuters reported. The DOJ had requested a six-month stay of depositions and non-evidentiary written discovery of the defendants and their current employees to protect a grand jury investigation.

The price-fixing allegations date back to September 2016, when Falconer, N.Y.-based Maplevale Farms first filed a complaint against the nation’s 14 largest chicken companies and market intelligence firm Agri Stats Inc. Additional lawsuits making similar claims have since been filed, and the court consolidated the complaints. Plaintiffs now include the nation’s largest foodservice, retail, supermarket and consumer packaged goods companies, including Walmart, Kroger Co., Sysco and Conagra Brands.

The chicken processors early on filed to dismiss the Maplevale allegations, citing lack of evidence. But the court has allowed the litigation to continue, at one point deeming an alleged conspiracy as “plausible.”

In a statement issued Tuesday, one of the defendants, Sanderson Farms Inc. said it has not been subpoenaed in connection with the DOJ investigation. Sanderson said it continues to believe the plaintiffs’ claims against the company “are wholly without merit, and we are committed to defending the case vigorously.”

Tyson Foods said in a regulatory filing last month that it was notified in April by plaintiffs in the lawsuit that the DOJ had issued a grand jury subpoena for information produced in the discovery process going back to 2016.

Tyson and other beef packers are also facing a lawsuit alleging U.S. ranchers were paid depressed cattle prices in violation of antitrust laws and a class action suit accusing the companies of fixing prices that consumers pay for beef products.