Poultry producers will not have to terminate a judgment sharing agreement (JSA) that requires each party in the In Re Broiler Chicken Antitrust lawsuit to get a copy of settlements, according to court records.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a district judge’s May 2022 ruling that the JSA does not provide a disadvantage to plaintiffs in the cases.
The chicken buyers are part of a class suing poultry producers for allegedly engaged in anticompetitive practices such as price-fixing, bid-rigging, output restrictions and sharing of competitively sensitive information.
The class claimed the JSA favors the poultry producers by allowing them to see what other defendants agreed to in settlements, and argued it could drive down the prices of future settlements.
Illinois Federal Judge Thomas M. Durkin ruled that the agreement was just and said defendants that do not agree with settlements can always fight it out in trial.
Last week, the appeals court’s panel of judges agreed with Durkin and declined to hear the case.
