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A federal judge has certified a class of direct chocolate purchasers involved in a price-fixing multidistrict litigation (MDL) against Nestle USA Inc., The Hershey Co. and Mars Inc.
The chocolate antitrust MDL was created to consolidate multiple class action lawsuits filed against the chocolate makers in early 2008 after Canadian and German investigations into the industry uncovered the alleged price-fixing scheme. One study found that chocolate prices rose 38% between 2004 and 2008.
Plaintiffs in the chocolate antitrust class action lawsuit allege that several of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the U.S. and abroad, including Nestle, Mars, Hershey and Cadbury, began colluding to fix chocolate prices and inflate the prices of chocolate candy in 2002.
The plaintiffs in the chocolate price-fixing class action lawsuit are split into three proposed classes of purchasers: direct purchasers, indirect end-users and indirect purchasers that purchased the chocolate for resale.
Cadbury settled with all three groups late last year. [See “Cadbury Chocolate Price-Fixing Class Action Settlement.”]
U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Conner certified the direct purchaser class for the remaining defendants on December 7.
The Chocolate Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuit case is In re: Chocolate Confectionary Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 8-md-01935, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
The lead counsel for the direct purchaser plaintiffs are Berger & Montague PC and Hausfeld LLP.
UPDATE: The chocolate antitrust class action lawsuit MDL was dismissed on Feb. 25, 2014, due to lack of evidence that Mars, Hershey and Nestle conspired to raise the prices of chocolate in the United States.
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price gouging
we all love hersheys for many years