|
Court blocks growers’ appeal over contracts with Pilgrim’s Pride
Story Date: 2/5/2013
| |
Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 2/4/13
An appellate court in the Northern District of Texas affirmed late last week an earlier ruling against 100 chicken growers that sued Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. for losses they incurred after the processor filed for bankruptcy in 2008, according to court documents.
After acquiring ConAgra Poultry Company in 2003, Pilgrim’s Pride began operating a chicken processing plant in Clinton, Ark., and contracted with some 100 poultry growers to supply the facility. The growers built chicken houses on their land at a cost of about $150,000 apiece.
Citing a downturn in the industry in 2008, Pilgrim’s filed for bankruptcy and terminated its contracts with the growers, court documents state.
The growers sued Pilgrim’s seeking “promissory estoppel relief,” alleging that the company’s oral promises of a long-term relationship caused them to invest in chicken houses.
However, in an earlier ruling the district court affirmed a bankruptcy court’s grant of summary judgment for Pilgrim’s on the grounds that the written contracts between Pilgrim’s and the growers prevented the alleged oral promises.
The court points out that the contracts stated that “either party could terminate the contract without cause between flocks — which lasted between four and nine weeks — but that Pilgrim's could end the agreement at any time for “cause or economic necessity.”
For more stories, go to http://www.meatingplace.com/.
|
|
|
|
