U.S. District Judge, Virginia M. Kendall of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, has ruled that the class action lawsuit against major turkey producers, filed in 2019, will proceed. The plaintiffs allege collusion and price fixing through exchange of information on turkey production either overtly or through subscription to the AgriStats benchmarking reports.
Defendants include Butterball, Cargill, Inc., Cooper Farms, Hormel Foods Corp. (owners of Jennie-O), House of Raeford, Farbest Foods, Foster Farms, Perdue Farms, Prestage Farms and Tyson Foods. AgriStats is a non-producing defendant.
Previous lawsuits alleging price fixing by broiler integrators have been settled, suggesting a similar course for turkey producers.