McDonald's Hits Pork Producers with Price-Fixing Lawsuit
McDonald's Corp. is accusing leading suppliers of pork of conspiring to fix pork prices over the past 14 years. Defendants include Agri Stats, Inc.; Clemens Food Group, LLC; The Clemens Family Corporation; Hormel Foods Corporation, Hormel Foods, LLC; JBS USA Food Company; Seaboard Foods LLC; Smithfield Foods, Inc.; Triumph Foods, LLC; Tyson Foods, Inc.; Tyson Prepared Foods, Inc.; and Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc.
According to the lawsuit filed Nov. 25 in the United States District Court Eastern District of New York, these companies entered into a conspiracy from around 2008 or early 2009 through the present to fix, raise, maintain and stabilize the price of pork, the court document shows.
McDonald's alleges the defendants also worked to "restrict output" and limit production with the express intended purpose of increasing and stabilizing the price of pork across the country, according to the filing. In furtherance of the conspiracy, McDonald's alleges the defendants exchanged detailed, competitively sensitive, and closely guarded non-public information about prices, capacity, sales volume and demand through their alleged co-conspirator, Agri Stats.
The lawsuit cites alleged violations of Sections 4 and 16 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, seeking a jury trial in addition to treble damages and all costs associated with the legal action. Treble damages is a term that indicates that a statute permits a court to triple the amount of the actual/compensatory damages to be awarded to a prevailing plaintiff.
Co-conspirators not named as defendants in the complaint, but who the plaintiffs allege "combined, conspired or agreed" with the defendants include Daily’s Premium Meats, LLC; Indiana Packers Corp.; and Seaboard Triumph Food, LLC.
More from Farm Journal's PORK:
Smithfield Foods to Pay $75 Million in Pork Price-Fixing Settlement
JBS USA Settles for $20 Million in Pork Price-Fixing Allegations
Ongoing Pork Antitrust Suit Racks Up Bills, Nearly $40 Million to be Paid Out
