Agriculture
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5 hours ago
On Wednesday, Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois declined arguments by Hillshire Brands Company, Tyson Foods Inc., Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., Tyson Prepared Foods Inc. (collectively, the Tyson defendants) that the court should toss the turkey purchaser plaintiffs’ suits against them. This week’s opinion and order pertains to two class-actions, one filed by Sandee’s Catering, and the other by Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative against the nation’s largest turkey producers.
The Tyson defendants reportedly based their February motion on part of the court’s reasoning in its October 2020 opinions, that in relevant part granted Kraft Heinz Foods Company and Kraft Foods Groups Brands LLC’s (collectively, Kraft) motion to dismiss. Specifically, the Tyson defendants argued that because they do not sell whole turkeys the plaintiffs’ claims did not apply to them, as the only pricing data included in the allegati
Agriculture
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4 days ago
More than two dozen unjust enrichment claims made by Sandeeâs Catering will move ahead following an opinion and order by Judge Virginia M. Kendall on Monday. The case is one of several antitrust suits alleging that the nationâs largest turkey integrators colluded to fix and raise prices by agreeing, through defendant Agri Stats Inc., to exchange sensitive information regarding their turkey production and sales.
In October of last year, the court upheld most of Sandeeâs complaint but granted the defendantsâ joint motion to dismiss the unjust enrichment claims because they essentially were undifferentiated. The plaintiff subsequently amended those claims, and the defendants moved for judgment on the pleadings.
Agriculture
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January 26, 2021
Turkey wholesalers and a statistics aggregator defending price-fixing conspiracy claims have submitted their final brief in support of their motion for a protective order limiting the scope of discovery. The defendantsâ reply brief, filed last week, reiterates their earlier position that the plaintiffs have levied burdensome discovery requests in an effort to âtrawlâ for information resurrecting dismissed or supporting new claims.
The brief explains that the plaintiffs assert âa single rule of reason claim,â that between 2010 and 2017, through industry data aggregator Agri Stats, the defendants exchanged production and sales date information that gave rise to a conspiracy to raise and fix prices. The case is proceeding through discovery after the plaintiffsâ federal antitrust claims and most of their state antitrust and consumer protection claims survived the motion to dismiss phase.