US: Appeals court backs fishermen in antitrust suit

A federal court order blocking Pacific Seafood Group from purchasing Ocean Gold Seafoods will remain until a trial into whether the sale would create a monopoly.

Commercial fishermen won a preliminary injunction against the sale last year in U.S. District Court in Medford. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s order Tuesday.

The fishermen allege that Pacific Seafood’s acquisition of Ocean Gold, a large fish processor in Westport, Washington, would establish a monopoly in the groundfish, whiting and coldwater shrimp markets.

Pacific Seafood, a Clackamas-based company that is a dominant player in fish processing and distribution, announced after a legal setback last year that the deal for Ocean Gold was canceled.

But the company, led by Frank Dulcich, wanted the court to compel arbitration as part of a previous antitrust suit by fishermen that was settled. The district court declined, a decision also upheld by the appeals court.

Judge A. Wallace Tashima found that the fishermen — including Dennis Rankin of Astoria — showed a sufficient likelihood of success in their legal challenge and demonstrated the potential for irreparable harm from the sale.

The Oregon Attorney General’s Office has called the potential merger of Pacific Seafood and Ocean Gold “presumptively unlawful given the degree of market concentration.”

“The decision this week was about where the dispute would be heard,” said Daniel Occhipinti, Pacific Seafood’s general counsel and director of government affairs. “We’re disappointed with the ruling but we continue to maintain that the plaintiffs’ claims are meritless, and we will prove that in whatever forum we have to.”

Full Content: The Daily Astorian

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