On March 26, 2021, Southern District of Florida District Court Judge Cecilia Altonaga denied a motion to dismiss an antitrust class action alleging a conspiracy to fix the price of farm-raised Atlantic salmon globally....more
4/20/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Food Supply ,
Market Manipulation ,
Nasdaq ,
Price-Fixing ,
Retail Market ,
Salmon ,
Seafood ,
Suppliers
As the Bilzin Sumberg team previously reported in June 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted four executives from Pilgrim’s Pride and Claxton Poultry for their participation in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids...more
10/27/2020
/ Agribusiness ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Food Supply ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Poultry ,
Price-Fixing ,
Retail Market
Earlier this month, the Attorney General’s Office of the State of New York filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against Hillandale Farms alleging that the company gouged egg prices during the COVID-19 pandemic....more
8/28/2020
/ Agribusiness ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corruption ,
Goods or Services ,
Manufacturers ,
Price Gouging ,
Price Inflation ,
Sales & Distribution Agreements ,
Supply Chain ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
White Collar Crimes
On June 3, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted executives from Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation and Claxton Poultry Farms—two of the country’s largest chicken producers. The criminal action was filed in the District of...more
6/8/2020
/ Agribusiness ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Bid Rigging ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Farms ,
Food Supply ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Poultry ,
Price-Fixing
In the latest of a series of antitrust lawsuits involving the food industry, a Virginia federal court last week denied a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging a price-fixing conspiracy in the peanut market....more
Chief Judge Tunheim recently dismissed, with leave to amend, the class complaints in In Re Pork Antitrust Litigation. The Pork case— filed in the District of Minnesota against Tyson, Hormel, JBS and other major pork...more
9/12/2019
/ Agribusiness ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Cartels ,
Class Action ,
Collusion ,
Conspiracies ,
Discovery ,
Farm Animals ,
Hormel ,
Leave to Amend ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Price-Fixing ,
Tyson Foods
What started out as a proposed merger between two of the largest packaged seafood manufacturers spawned a lengthy criminal investigation into antitrust violations in the tuna industry by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and...more
8/2/2019
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Class Certification ,
Competition ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Price-Fixing ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Seafood
Price-fixing cases over the past decade have read like a virtual electronics product materials list. Government investigators and civil plaintiffs have pursued actions involving a wide array of electronic parts ranging from...more
5/7/2019
/ Amnesty ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Conspiracies ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Criminal Liability ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Food Supply ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Price-Fixing ,
Retail Market ,
Seafood
When people think about this year’s food industry trends, they may envision app-based grocery delivery services, the Keto diet, and restaurants that serve all locally-sourced ingredients....more