US: DOJ intervenes in chicken price-fixing suit

The US Dept. of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to intervene and stay discovery of evidence in an antitrust lawsuit involving major poultry processors.

A temporary stay was issued “…to all defendant employee and former employee depositions…” until the US District Court Judge Thomas Durkin rules on the motion at a hearing scheduled for June 27.

Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, which is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said in a statement, “We are aware of the Department of Justice’s request, which does not change our view that there is simply no merit to the allegations that Tyson Foods colluded with competitors. We remain committed to vigorously defending ourselves against these baseless allegations.”

Food distributor Maplevale Farms filed the antitrust lawsuit on September 2, 2016, against Tyson Foods, Koch Foods, Perdue Farms, and several other major poultry processors. The complaint alleges that the defendants conspired as early as January 2008 to “fix, raise, maintain, and stabilize the price of Broilers…”

The lawsuit alleges that “…The principal (but not exclusive) method by which Defendants implemented and executed their conspiracy was by coordinating their output and limiting production with the intent and expected result of increasing prices of Broilers in the United States. In furtherance of their conspiracy, Defendants exchanged detailed, competitively sensitive, and closely-guarded non-public information about prices, capacity, sales volume, and demand, including through third party co-conspirator Agri Stats.”