Sanderson Farms agreed to a $17.75 million settlement to resolve claims it violated federal antitrust laws by working with other chicken companies to short-change broiler chicken growers.
The settlement benefits individuals and entities who were paid for broiler grow-out services by any defendant or alleged co-conspirator between Jan. 27, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2019.
Defendants in the case are Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue, Koch and Sanderson Farms.
Alleged co-conspirators in the case are Agri Stats Inc., Foster Farms, Mountaire Farms, Wayne Farms, George’s Inc., Peco Foods Inc., House of Raeford Farms, Simmons Foods, Keystone Foods Fieldale Farms Corp., O.K. Industries, Case Foods, Marshall Durbin Companies, Amick Farms Inc., Mar-Jac Poultry Inc., Harrison Poultry Inc., Claxton Poultry Farms and Norman W. Fries Inc.
According to the class action lawsuit from broiler chicken growers, Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue, Koch and Sanderson Farms violated antitrust laws by conspiring together to suppress the value of chicken growing services. As a result of this alleged scheme, broiler chicken growers were compensated at a lower rate than they would have been in a competitive market, the growers claim.
Sanderson Farms is a chicken company that sells various chicken cuts. Like other chicken sellers, Sanderson Farms contracts broiler chicken growers to raise chickens.
Sanderson hasn’t admitted any wrongdoing but agreed to a $17.75 million settlement to resolve the broiler chicken antitrust class action lawsuit claims. Other settlements have been reached in the same case with Koch, Tyson and others.
Under the terms of the settlement, broiler chicken growers can receive a share of the settlement fund based on the amount they received in payments from the defendants for broiler grow-out services. Growers who received a larger share of these payments will receive a larger share of the net settlement fund.
The deadline for exclusion and objection is July 31, 2023.
The final approval hearing for the broiler chicken growers settlement is scheduled for Aug. 25, 2023.
In order to receive settlement benefits, class members must submit a valid claim form by Dec. 13, 2023.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source topclassactions.com ’
