Tyson Foods to Settle Price-Fixing Suit
USAgNet - 01/22/2021
Tyson Foods Inc. said it has agreed to pay $221.5 million to settle with plaintiff groups of poultry buyers that sued it for price-fixing claims, helping resolve a four-year legal battle over alleged collusion in the $65 billion chicken industry.
Restaurant chains, supermarket operators and food distributors have accused Tyson, the largest U.S. meat company by sales and the nation's top chicken supplier, and other major chicken companies of coordinating production and pricing to boost prices for
staples such as chicken breasts, tenders and wings. Chicken suppliers have pushed back in court, pointing to economic factors they said drove poultry prices.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Tyson said it reached the settlement with plaintiffs including direct purchasers, commercial and institutional indirect purchasers and end-user consumers. It didn't admit any liability as part of the settlements and said the
settlement is subject to court approval.
The settlement doesn't cover lawsuits filed separately by individual plaintiffs. Tyson, Pilgrim's Pride Corp. and other U.S. chicken suppliers still face continuing lawsuits from some of their top customers, including chicken-sandwich company Chick-fil-A Inc.,
supermarket operators Walmart Inc. and Kroger Co. , and food-service distributors Sysco Corp. and US Foods Holding Co.
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