{"id":108119,"date":"2021-01-12T01:07:18","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T01:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=108119"},"modified":"2021-01-12T01:07:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T01:07:18","slug":"pilgrims-pride-tyson-foods-settle-some-chicken-price-fixing-litigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/pilgrims-pride-tyson-foods-settle-some-chicken-price-fixing-litigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrim's Pride, Tyson Foods settle some chicken price-fixing litigation"},"content":{"rendered":"
(Reuters) – Pilgrim\u2019s Pride Corp and Tyson Foods Inc said on Monday they have settled price-fixing litigation by a group of poultry buyers that accused them of violating U.S. antitrust law by conspiring to inflate chicken prices.<\/p> Pilgrim\u2019s Pride, owned mainly by Brazil\u2019s JBS SA, will pay $75 million to settle claims by purchasers that bought chickens directly from the company. The size of Tyson\u2019s settlement with the same purchasers was not disclosed.<\/p>\n Neither company admitted liability, and both said settling was in their best interests.<\/p>\n Both settlements require approval by a federal judge in Chicago.<\/p>\n Neither affects claims by \u201cindirect\u201d purchasers, which include restaurant and supermarket operators such as Chick-fil-A, Kroger Co and Target Inc as well as ordinary consumers.<\/p>\n They also do not affect claims against other defendants, such as Sanderson Farms Inc and Perdue Farms Inc.<\/p>\n Pilgrim’s settlement is the largest in more than four years of litigation by restaurants, supermarkets and food distributors over alleged price-fixing in the $65 billion chicken industry here.<\/p>\n A few smaller chicken producers previously reached similar settlements totaling $13 million.<\/p>\n Similar litigation has been pending in Minneapolis federal court accusing Tyson, another JBS unit and other pork producers of conspiring to inflate pork prices by limiting supply.<\/p>\n The Pilgrim\u2019s settlement follows that company\u2019s agreement in October to pay a $110.5 million fine to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice criminal price-fixing probe.<\/p>\n Last year, the Justice Department also filed criminal price-fixing and bid-rigging charges here in Denver against 10 poultry industry executives. All have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n The case is In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 16-08637.<\/p>\n