Pilgrim’s Pride agrees to $100 million settlement to pay chicken farmers

Pilgrim’s Pride, one of the largest poultry processors in the US, has agreed to pay $100 million to settle claims it conspired with rivals to underpay chicken farmers, the end and by far the largest settlement in the seven-year-old antitrust case.

A preliminary settlement was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Muskogee, Oklahoma. It requires the approval of U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby, who normally sits in Utah. Pilgrim’s Pride denied wrongdoing when it agreed to settle.

The litigation addressed allegations that major poultry producers conspired to keep farmers’ wages artificially low by sharing confidential compensation information and agreeing not to actively recruit their farmers to others.

Pilgrim’s Pride is the last remaining defendant. If his settlement is approved, the total recovery will be $169 million, minus legal fees and other expenses.

Tyson Foods, Sanderson Farms, Koch Foods and Perdue Foods previously settled for $21 million, $17.75 million, $15.5 million and $14.75 million, respectively.

Greeley, Colo.-based Pilgrim’s Pride did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gary Smith, an attorney for the farmers, called the settlement a “remarkable” result, which he believed to be the largest antitrust settlement of any meat producer or poultry processor.

The settlement covers a certified class of 24,354 so-called growers from Jan. 27, 2013, to Dec. 31, 2019, court documents show.

Breeders provide land, labor and equipment to raise the chickens until the animals are ready for slaughter, and then return the animals to the poultry producers.

The case is In re: Broiler Chicken Grower Antitrust Litigation (No. II), US District Court, Eastern District of Oklahoma, No. 20-md-02977.

TOPICS
Agribusiness