Chicken Farmers Reach Settlement With Perdue Farms for Alleged Price Fixing

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Chicken farmers have reached a settlement with Perdue Farms ending a class action lawsuit that accused the company of operating in a cartel to keep the price of chicken high.

The class action lawsuit was one of many filed against Perdue, Tyson Foods, and other big poultry producers alleging the companies of colluding to control the price and supply of chickens bred for consumption, Law360 reports.

The claims were first filed five years ago, and alleged that the companies used third-party data compiler Agri Stats to set compensation levels for chicken farmers, known as ‘chicken growers’ in the industry, and control everything from the prices they paid for the chickens to certain specifications of the facilities where the farmers work, according to Law360.

Many of the chicken farmers class action lawsuits were consolidated, but others have continued to be litigated on their own, netting millions of dollars in settlements. With the current settlement, the chicken farmers told U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby they were finalizing all the documents and would make a formal request for the court’s approval soon. A dollar figure for the settlement is still unknown.

Earlier this year, Tyson Foods agreed to a $221 million settlement to get out of a lawsuit claiming it had participated in a scheme to increase the price of chicken, and last month, the company agreed to another settlement for $1.75 million to end similar claims about turkey prices.

Pork and turkey meat processing industries have also been swept up in allegations of price-fixing. Currently, 15 of the pork cases are consolidated in multidistrict litigation in Minnesota, with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation adding the last two suits to the fold in June, Law360 reports.

What do you think about the poultry and pork industries allegedly colluding to fix meat prices? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!

The farmers are represented by Gary I. Smith Jr. of Hausfeld LLP.

Perdue is represented by J. Douglas Baldridge of Venable LLP.

The Chicken Price Fixing Class Action Lawsuit is Haff Poultry Inc. et al. v. Tyson Foods Inc. et al., Case No. 6:17-cv-00033, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

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