Canned Tuna Companies Hit with Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

The three largest producers of canned tuna in the United States have been hit with an antitrust class action lawsuit alleging the companies conspired together to fix, raise and maintain tuna prices. Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative Inc. filed the canned tuna class action lawsuit on Monday against StarKist Co., Bumble Bee Foods LLC, and Thai Union Frozen Products-owned Tri-Union Seafoods LLC, which produces “Chicken of the Sea”.

According to the antitrust class action lawsuit, tuna consumption has declined over the last few years but prices have not. The lead plaintiff Olean claims that in 2005 the average person ate 3.1 pounds of tuna but by 2013 the average dropped to 2.3 pounds. Olean claims that a rational business action would be to reduce the price of tuna but that didn’t happen and the raw material costs of tuna cannot be blamed.

The canned tuna antitrust class action lawsuit reports that in 2015 tuna exporters noted that the price per metric ton had declined from $1,400 to $800. In addition, the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization noted in its May 2015 “Food Outlook” biannual report that the price of tuna had dropped in 2014 stating “tuna prices declined significantly due to excess supply, with frozen skipjack prices hitting a 6-year low.” Yet despite the declining raw material costs, the defendants did not decrease prices.

Lead plaintiff Olean claims that when Thai Union Frozen planned to finance the acquisition of Bumble Bee tuna for $1.51 billion, the company planned to raise funds through shareholders that would have raised about $380 million. However, on July 23, 2015, TUF suspended the public offering by disclosing that both Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea received grand jury subpoenas from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Based on a statement from the Global Competition Review, Olean suggests that StarKist received a DOJ subpoena as well.

According to the canned tuna class action lawsuit, Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea and StarKist have violated sections 1 and 3 of the Sherman Act by conspiring with each other in order to artificially fix, raise and maintain tuna and other packaged seafood products within the United States, its territories and the District of Columbia.

Olean claims that they and other potential Class Members have been forced to pay more for canned tuna that they otherwise would have in a competitive marketplace without the price-fixing conspiracy.

If approved, the canned tuna class action lawsuit would be open to all Class Members who 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.

The lead plaintiff expects thousands of potential Class Members to join.

Olean is represented by Michael P. Lehmann, Bonny E. Sweeney, Christopher L. Lebsock, Michael D. Hausfeld and James J. Pizzirusso of Hausfeld LLP.

The Canned Tuna Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit is Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative Inc., et al. v. Bumble Bee Foods LLC, et al., Case No. 3:15-cv-01714, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

UPDATE: On Dec. 9, 2015, nine putative class action lawsuits and 44 related cases that accuse the largest producers of canned tuna of a price-fixing scheme were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation in California’s Southern District.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 25, 2019, Walmart secured a $20.5 million settlement in a consolidated set of class action lawsuits alleging StarKist entered into a conspiracy to fix the price of canned tuna.