Data analytics and consulting company Agri Stats must face a lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department and six states accusing it of participating in a price-fixing conspiracy with major chicken, pork and turkey processors, Reuters reports.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minnesota denied, Indiana-based Agri Stats’ motion to dismiss the case, saying the government’s antitrust claims were sufficient to move forward for now, Reuters reports. Agri Stats denied wrongdoing.
According to the article, the Justice Department, California, Texas, North Carolina and other states alleged last year in their lawsuit that Agri Stats was unlawfully collecting competitively sensitive industry information and sharing it with subscribers. They said major meat processors used Agri Stats reports to keep prices artificially high.
In his 24-page ruling, Tunheim wrote that the reports show “detailed information about where the subscriber stands in comparison to the rest of the industry in terms of sales and live production.”
The lawsuit seeks to block Agri Stats from issuing its reports, Reuters reports. Agri Stats began offering chicken industry benchmarking reports in 1985, and added turkey and pork data later. The company stopped producing turkey and pork reports in 2019 and has said it does not plan to resume them.
A U.S. judge in Chicago last year dismissed claims against Agri Stats in a private antitrust lawsuit by restaurants, supermarkets, distributors and consumers. In this related case, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin ruled that just “because Agri Stats provided a convenient form to transmit the information [did] not mean that Agri Stats itself joined the conspiracy.”
Tunheim pointed out in Tuesday’s order that he would not transfer the government’s case to Chicago and that he was not bound by Durkin’s ruling.
The case is United States v. Agri Stats Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, No. 0:23-cv-03009.
