Tyson, Aldi reach settlement agreement over broiler chicken price-fixing class action

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Tyson, Aldi broiler chicken price-fixing class action settlement overview: 

• Who: Aldi has reached a settlement agreement with Tyson Foods. 
• Why: The settlement resolves claims by Aldi that Tyson engaged in a price-fixing scheme for its broiler chickens.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was settled in Illinois federal court.

Tyson Foods has reached a settlement agreement to resolve claims made by the grocery store chain Aldi that it was part of a yearslong price-fixing scheme for broiler chickens. 

The agreement calls for Tyson to cooperate with claims from Aldi that are running parallel with a federal government antitrust probe looking into it and other retailers’ sale of broiler chickens from 2012-2019, according to a joint motion for dismissal. 

The U.S. Department of Justice revealed it was investigating anticompetitive conduct in the broiler chicken market in 2019 with the investigation still ongoing, Law360 reports. 

Aldi’s class action lawsuit, meanwhile, was part of a number of complaints filed against the nation’s largest broiler chicken sellers in September 2016, including Tyson, Perdue and Pilgrim’s Pride. 

The companies have been accused of working together to raise the prices for broiler chickens by limiting production,and exchanging information about prices, sales volume and capacity. 

Chicken price-fixing claimants include individual buyers, direct purchasers, end-user consumers

Now a widespread multidistrict litigation, claims have come in from individual chicken buyers, direct purchasers and end-user consumers, while a number of individual settlements have already been reached with producers. 

In a January 2021 filing, Tyson told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had agreed to settle all claims made by direct purchasers, individual chicken buyers and end-user consumers for around $221.5 million.

In December, meanwhile, a federal judge gave final approval to a deal that called for Tyson to pay end-user consumers $99 million out of a total of $181 million in claims. The settlement also included Peco Foods, Fieldale Farms, George’s, Pilgrim’s Pride and Mar-Jac Poultry. 

A number of executives have so far been indicted as a result of the broiler chicken price-fixing probe, including the presidents of both Claxton Poultry and Pilgrim’s Pride, Law360 reports. 

Have you purchased a broiler chicken produced by Tyson foods? Let us know in the comments! 

Aldi is represented by Christopher C. Brewer, Christopher J. Dufek and Ryan Phair of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP.

The Aldi and Tyson broiler chicken price fixing class action settlement is In re: Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 1:16-cv-08637, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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