If You Were Paid to Provide Broiler Grow-Out Services at Any Time Between January 27, 2013 and December 31, 2019, A Class Action Settlement Totaling $15,500,000 May Affect Your Legal Rights.
A federal court authorized this notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.
Koch Foods, Inc. and Koch Meat Co., Inc. (doing business as Koch Poultry Co.) (together “Koch”) have agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought against them by Broiler chicken growers who allege that Koch unlawfully conspired to artificially reduce the amounts they paid to Broiler chicken growers for Broiler Grow-Out Services. Koch denies that they did anything wrong and have asserted defenses to the claims against them.
Plaintiffs are Broiler chicken growers that raised broilers for Koch (“Defendant”). Plaintiffs represent a class of Broiler chicken growers who have similar claims against Defendants and the Alleged Co-Conspirators.
Koch will pay $15.5 million into a Settlement Fund to settle the class action antitrust, and PSA claims against them and to provide certain cooperation to Plaintiffs in this litigation against the remaining Defendants (the “Koch Settlement”). In addition, Koch has agreed to certain restrictions on its ability to enforce arbitration provisions against Broiler chicken growers and on its ability to enforce provisions restricting collective or class actions brought by Broiler chicken growers against Koch. Koch Settlement § 10.e.
You may be eligible to receive a payment if you reside in the U.S. or its territories and were paid by any Defendant or any Alleged Co-Conspirator to provide Broiler Grow-Out Services at any time between January 27, 2013, and December 31, 2019. To learn who the Defendants and Alleged Co-Conspirators are, visit www.BroilerGrowersAntitrustSettlement.com.
If you received a Pre-Populated Claim Form and the information contained therein is correct, you do not need to do anything further to receive a payment. If you disagree with the information contained in the Pre-Populated Claim Form you received, you may submit the Claim Form with corrected information and documentation. If you received an Unpopulated Claim Form, you must complete and submit that Claim Form by February 6, 2023, to receive a payment from the Settlement Fund. You may access a Claim Form from the website and submit it online or download and mail it to the address on the Claim Form. Claim Forms are also available by calling 1-833-907-3700 or emailing Info@BroilerGrowersAntitrustSettlement.com.
If you are a Class member and do nothing, you will be bound by the Settlement and will give up any right to sue Koch in a separate lawsuit related to the legal claims in this lawsuit. If you want to keep your right to separately sue Koch, you must exclude yourself from the Settlement by September 23, 2022. If you do not exclude yourself, you may object to the Settlement and/or ask for permission to appear and speak at the Fairness Hearing but only if you do so by September 23, 2022. Complete information is available at www.BroilerGrowersAntitrustSettlement.com.
The Court will hold a hearing at 2:00 p.m. CT on October 28, 2022 to decide whether to approve the Settlement, grant the requested attorneys’ fees of up to one-third of the gross Settlement amount, litigation expenses not to exceed $3,000,000 and the proposed plan of allocation and distribution. You or your own lawyer may appear and speak at the hearing at your own expense, but there is no requirement that you or your own lawyer do so. The hearing may occur remotely, over a Zoom platform, or it may occur in person, at the United States District Court for the District of Oklahoma, located at 101 N. 5th St., Muskogee, OK 74401. Please check www.BroilerGrowersAntitrustSettlement.com for updates as to the location of the hearing.
This notice is only a summary.
For more information, including the full Notice and Settlement Agreement, visit www.BroilerGrowersAntitrustSettlement.com, email Info@BroilerGrowersAntitrustSettlement.com , or call 1-833-907-3700.
