Turkey producers to face price-fixing multidistrict legislation

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Turkey price-fixing multidistrict litigation overview: 

• Who: A federal judge has denied a joint motion to dismiss turkey price-fixing claims filed against producers including Butterball, Cargill, Hormel, and Perdue Foods, among others. 
• Why: The judge ruled classes of direct and indirect poultry purchasers have done enough to infer that a conspiracy has occurred and that enough circumstantial evidence exists for the claims to proceed. 
• Where: The multidistrict litigation stems from class action lawsuits filed in Illinois’ federal court. 

A federal judge in Illinois has ruled that classes of direct and indirect turkey buyers have done enough to keep alive consolidated price-fixing claims lobbied at turkey producers including Butterball, Cargill, Hormel, and Perdue Foods, among others. 

The judge’s decision denied a joint motion to dismiss that was filed by the turkey orders as a way to try and avoid claims they were involved in a conspiracy to fix prices in the poultry industry. 

Currently in multidistrict litigation, the judge determined that a class of direct and indirect poultry purchasers have done enough to infer a conspiracy has occurred, and that there is enough circumstantial evidence in place. 

Turkey buyers were ruled to have sufficiently alleged in an amended complaint that the turkey producers “engaged in parallel conduct,” with the buyers citing supply cuts made between 2008-2009 and 2012-2013. 

The buyers also claimed in their amended complaint that turkey producers “directly encouraged each other to cut production in 2009” and “engaged in private communications about production cuts and pricing,” among other things, according to the judge’s order. 

Turkey producers used a platform called Agri Stats to exchange sensitive information, buyers claim

Price-fixing coordination was done by exchanging information through a platform called Agri Stats Inc., according to the buyers, with the judge determining buyers had sufficiently alleged that the producers—due to the platform—had access to information that otherwise would have been private. 

“Agri Stats reports also identified specific opportunities for defendants to increase pricing after comparison with competitors’ pricing,” the judge said.

In October 2020, the judge partially granted a motion to dismiss by Agri Stats by trimming several claims made in one of the class action lawsuits, including allegations of unjust enrichment and consumer protection claims from Arkansas and Utah. 

In November 2020, meanwhile, the judge declined a request to transfer one of the complaints to a different judge handling a separate civil case revolving around broiler chicken price-fixing claims. 

Have you been injured by price-fixing? Let us know in the comments! 

The Turkey price-fixing class action lawsuits are Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative, et al. v. Agri Stats Inc., et al., Case No. 1:19-cv-08318, and Sandee’s Catering, et al. v. Agri Stats Inc., et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-02295, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. 

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