 |
In the November 11th edition of CHICK-NEWS, it was reported that JBS USA, controlled by JBS SA of Brazil, had settled with plaintiffs in Pork Antitrust Litigation filed in 2018. According to documents released, JBS will pay $24.5 million into a settlement fund to reimburse plaintiffs for damages alleged and for legal expenses.
Co-defendants in the lawsuit include Clemens Food Group, Hormel Foods Corp., Seaboard Foods, Smithfield Foods, Triumph Foods and Tyson Foods. Central to the issue is AgriStats, the compiler and distributor of a benchmark costing system that has been implicated by plaintiffs in broiler-related litigation. Plaintiffs claim that subscription to the AgriStats system provided data that could be construed as indirect collusion.
|
|
In addition to the settlement fee, JBS will provide “specified cooperation” that will obviously assist plaintiffs in recovering damages against remaining defendants. The agreement reached through negotiations supervised by a mediator were approved by Judge John Tunheim of the U.S. District Court of Minnesota.
On October 25th sister company Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., controlled by JBS SA, agreed to a $110 million penalty imposed by the Department of Justice to settle criminal charges of collusion with other broiler integrators to rig bids.
|