Lessons Learned: A Government Litigation Case Study
[Podcast] Food for Thought and Thoughts on Food: What to Expect in 2023
The year 2023 ended with a bang in the cartel space, with a federal court of appeals upending what was long believed to be the scope of conduct that should be considered per se under the Sherman Act. The new year, 2024,...more
Allegations of a sprawling poultry price-fixing scheme affecting millions of Americans. An “unheard-of” three trials. Two mistrials. The Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division...more
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, you have probably heard that there is a turkey shortage – brought about by a combination of rising costs for feed and fuel, continued labor shortages, and – if that were not enough –a...more
This summer the US Department of Justice settled with three poultry processors, Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., Sanderson Farms, Inc., and Wayne Farms, LLC. (U.S. v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. et al, 1:22-cv-01821 (D. Md....more
Key Points - As part of the antitrust agencies’ public commitment to investigate and prosecute competitive harm in labor markets, the DOJ Antitrust Division fined three major U.S. poultry processors and a data consulting...more
After a string of losses by the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (the “Division”) in no-poach and wage fixing litigations, including a wage-fixing antitrust case in the physical therapy industry in April, the...more
On July 25, 2022, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland alleging that poultry processors, Cargill Inc. and Cargill...more
The meat processing sector has been in the crosshairs of the federal government over that last several years due to increased consumer prices for meat products and complaints from farmers and ranchers. These complaints have...more
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division continues to target a sprawling cartel investigation of the chicken industry. In its most recent action, the Justice Department announced an indictment of Koch Foods and four...more
After an ill-fated multi-year effort to develop a self-driving car, Uber (which spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” on the project) is “handing the autonomous vehicle effort over to a Silicon Valley start-up”—Aurora—along...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
The WTO—already on shaky ground with the White House—did little to endear itself on Tuesday with a decision giving the EU “permission to impose tariffs on $4 billion worth of American products annually in retaliation for...more
The Justice Department announced a major expansion of its ongoing investigation and prosecution of executives and employees in the boiler chicken price-fixing conspiracy....more
Federal regulators—including the Federal Reserve and the OCC—have fined Citigroup $400 million over “longstanding” failures in the areas of risk management, data governance, and internal controls. In addition to the fine, the...more
The Antitrust Division’s recent indictment of the boiler chicken executives provided an important reminder to compliance officers on the importance of an effective antitrust compliance program....more
The recent indictment of four executives involved in a long-running price-fixing scheme among broiler chicken suppliers provides an important window into how such conspiracies work and evade detection....more
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division recently announced the indictment in Colorado federal court of four executives from two chicken producer companies for participation in a long-running price-fixing and bid-rigging...more
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