Canned Tuna MDL Wins Class Cert. in Fed. Court

A federal judge has granted class certification to consumers who claim that they were deceived by a scheme to fix the prices of canned tuna by three of the largest producers of packages tuna products.

The plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit claim that the tuna companies Chicken of the Sea, StarKist, and Bumble Bee allegedly took part in anti-competitive conduct. The anti-competitive scheme allegedly included an agreement to fix prices for packaged tuna, a pact to limit promotional activity of the products, and agreeing to exchange confidential business information in order to facilitate the conspiracy.

The judge’s order states that the conspiracy lasted from November 2010 to December 2016.

Since the start of this class action litigation, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been investigating the defendants and some companies and their executives have pled guilty to certain charges.

The court’s opinion notes that Bumble Bee has pled guilty to price fixing and has been fined criminally. In addition, two Bumble Bee executives have pled guilty and its CEO has been indicted.

Additionally, Starkist will be fined criminally for their part in the scheme and one of its executives has pled guilty.

The other company involved in the alleged scheme, Chicken of the Sea, is cooperating with the DOJ investigation, according to the judge’s order.

In December 2015, nine canned tuna class action lawsuits and 44 related cases were consolidated to form a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Southern District of California.

The judge certified three classes of tuna buyers for the canned tuna MDL, including end payers, direct purchasers, and commercial food preparers.

One of the first canned tuna class action lawsuits was filed by Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative in August 2015 who said that the three canned tuna companies conspired to fix and continue to maintain the prices of tuna.

The canned tuna class action lawsuit stated that the amount of tuna consumed over the past few years has declined, but the prices of the tuna has risen. The class action complaint stated that the logical business decision would be to lower the price of tuna, but the canned tuna companies did not do so.

The canned tuna class action lawsuit claims that Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea and StarKist violated two sections of the Sherman Act.

The Olean class action lawsuit stated, “Defendants and their co-conspirators engaged in a continuing contract, combination, and conspiracy to artificially fix, raise, maintain, and/or stabilize the prices of PSPs [packaged seafood products] within the United States, its territories, and the District of Columbia.”

After the original class action lawsuit was filed, five more were filed in the Southern District of California, two more were filed in the Northern District of California, and another was filed in Mississippi District Court.

Class Members in the canned tuna price fixing class action lawsuit include: “All persons and entities that directly purchased packaged seafood products within the United States, its territories and the District of Columbia from any Defendant or any predecessor, subsidiary or affiliate thereof, at any time between July 24, 2011 and the present. Excluded from the class are governmental entities, Defendants, any parent, subsidiary or affiliate thereof, and Defendants’ officers, directors, employees, and immediate families.”

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from Blecher & Collins, Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP, Hausfeld LLP, Motley Rice LLP, Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason LLP and Block & Leviton LLP.

The Canned Tuna Price Fixing Class Action Lawsuit MDL is In Re: Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 3:15-md-02670, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

UPDATE: On Jan. 17, 2020, plaintiffs in a $6.5 million Chicken of the Sea settlement will have to go back to the drawing board after a federal judge denied preliminary approval.

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