Judge certifies class in Pilgrim’s Pride no-poach agreement antitrust class action

Pilgrim’s Pride class action overview: 

• Who: A class of more than 24,354 chicken growers was certified by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby in a class action lawsuit against Pilgrim’s Pride.
• Why: The lawsuit claims that a Pilgrim’s Pride no-poach agreement with other integrators unfairly limits the pay of chicken growers by eliminating competition for their services.
• Where: The Pilgrim’s Pride class action is in federal court in Oklahoma.

More than 24,000 chicken broiler farmers across the United States had their class certified in a lawsuit against integrator Pilgrim’s Pride.

The farmers’ class action lawsuit claims that a Pilgrim’s Pride no-poach agreement with other integrators unfairly limits the pay of chicken growers by eliminating competition for their services in addition to information sharing between integrators. 

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby certified a class including broiler growers who provided chickens to Pilgrim’s Pride or any of its 20 alleged co-conspirators with an overarching agreement.

“Without the risk of a competitor poaching an Integrator’s Growers by offering higher compensation, the effect of the NPA, according to Plaintiffs, was to artificially suppress Grower pay through reduced competition,” the PIlgrim’s Pride class action says.

Chicken growers have common, consistent claims within class, judge ruled

Shelby determined that the Pilgrim’s Pride no-poach agreements led to common issues that lead to similar and consistent claims among the chicken growers.

“Given the predominance of common issues on the elements of antitrust violation and impact, any individualized issues that may arise on this element would not overwhelm the common issues in the case,” Shelby wrote.

Shelby noted that a recent 10th Circuit decision said that the hallmarks of price fixing impacting an entire market include having a standardized pricing structure, a price-fixing conspiracy and an artificially inflated baseline for pricing negotiations.

In 2021, Tyson and Perdue agreed to two settlements worth $35.75 million to resolve broiler chicken antitrust class action lawsuit claims they worked together to decrease profits for chicken growers.

Do you eat Pilgrim’s Pride chicken? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Hausfeld LLP and Berger Montague.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. is represented by Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP and Foliart Huff Ottaway & Bottom. 

The Pilgrim’s Pride class action lawsuit is In re: Boiler Chicken Grower Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 6:20-md-02977-RJS-CMR, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

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