Mountaire Farms and Koch Foods are the two most recent poultry companies to reach settlements in a lawsuit that alleges that the nation’s largest integrators conspired to limit supply and drive up the price of chicken.
According to a court document, the two companies and a class of end-user plaintiffs reached an agreement in principle “to settle all claims in this action.”
The document was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division on July 23. The document was filed by law firms Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll on behalf of the plaintiffs. The settlement was also made on behalf of Koch Foods-affiliated companies JCG Foods and Koch Meats.
Mountaire Farms’ and Koch Foods’ decisions to offer to settle follow similar move made earlier this month by O.K. Foods. The same two law firms filed paperwork concerning that proposed settlement.
A settlement in the case does not represent an admission of guilt, defendant companies have consistently said throughout the legal process of these antitrust suits. The case dates back to 2016.
Mountaire Farms and Koch Foods, according to the latest WATTPoultry.com Top Poultry Companies survey, are respectively the fourth and sixth largest broiler producers in the United States.
