Perdue, Sanderson and other chicken suppliers have agreed to settle claims that they conspired for years to fix poultry prices, costing food distributors millions of dollars in overcharges.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers representing a class action of direct purchasers of chicken said in a court filing, opens new tab on Thursday that they will ask a Chicago federal judge to preliminary approve the new round of settlements. The terms of the agreements were not immediately disclosed. The companies have denied any wrongdoing.
Sanderson and lawyers for the plaintiffs declined to comment on the settlements. Perdue did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Perdue and other defendants included in Thursday’ settlement filing won a pre-trial ruling June knocking out the plaintiffs’ claims against them. Sanderson, which merged last year to form Oakwood, Georgia-based Wayne-Sanderson, in October prevailed at the first trial in the chicken price-fixing litigation. The plaintiffs had been contesting both results.
Consumers, direct purchasers of chicken and commercial plaintiffs such as restaurants and grocery stores in the coordinated cases accused the defendants of conspiring for years to keep prices artificially high by curbing production and sharing nonpublic data about supply and demand. The plaintiffs have inked more than $284 million in prior settlements with other chicken producers. The direct-purchaser plaintiffs include Maplevale Farms in New York, Pennsylvania-based John Gross & Company and New Jersey’s Ferraro Foods.
Among some of the food distributors’ earlier settlements, Tyson agreed in 2021 to pay $80 million to the direct purchaser plaintiffs. Pilgrim’s Pride that year settled for $75 million.
In 2023, Koch resolved claims against it for $47.5 million, and House of Raeford Farms paid $27.5 million. The settling companies denied any liability.
The case is In re: Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, No. 1:16-cv-08637.
Source: Reuters
