Chicken buyers have brought attention to a civil suit involving some of the nation’s top poultry producers and a group of restaurants, as revealed in court documents.
According to records from a federal appeals court, a class of direct chicken buyers has accused several restaurants of attempting to derail an $8 million settlement agreement between the buyers and Simmons Foods, which aimed to resolve antitrust allegations.
Among the restaurants mentioned in the appeal seeking separation from the direct purchaser class are Boston Market, Bojangles, El Pollo Loco, and Golden Corral.
The class of buyers had previously reached settlements with poultry producers totaling $284 million. They assert that the restaurants in question had the opportunity to opt out of the class but failed to meet the deadline.
The settlement with Simmons Foods, finalized in June, is a component of the Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation—a complex legal battle comprising numerous lawsuits consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. These lawsuits allege that the nation’s major chicken processors engaged in price-fixing collusion spanning from 2008 to 2019.
