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
On Monday, Northern District of Illinois Judge Virginia M. Kendall denied three motions to dismiss a putative class action alleging that the nation’s leading turkey suppliers—including Butterball, Cargill, House of Raeford,...more
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
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
This month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) opened a criminal investigation into collusive behavior among some of the largest producers of Atlantic salmon. This inquiry follows the DOJ’s June announcement of its separate...more
11/27/2019
/ Antitrust Conspiracies ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Class Action ,
Collusion ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
European Commission ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Price-Fixing ,
Subsidiaries
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
When it rains, it pours—and for the country’s largest protein producers, the downpour is coming in the form of high-profile antitrust lawsuits. Over the past few years, food giants like Tyson and JBS (majority owner of...more
5/24/2019
/ Agribusiness ,
Cargill ,
Class Action ,
Farm Animals ,
Food Supply ,
Foreign Suppliers ,
Mercantile Industry ,
Price-Fixing ,
Purchase Price ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Salmon ,
Suppliers ,
Supply Chain ,
Tyson Foods
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