In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation

Track this case

Case Number:

1:16-cv-08637

Court:

Illinois Northern

Nature of Suit:

791(Labor: E.R.I.S.A.)

Multi Party Litigation:

Class Action

Judge:

Honorable Thomas M. Durkin

Firms

Companies

Sectors & Industries:

  1. March 26, 2024

    Ill. Judge Needs More Info To OK $57M Chicken Antitrust Fee

    An Illinois federal judge overseeing a sprawling antitrust litigation against broiler chicken producers said he couldn't rule on class counsel's renewed bid for a $57 million attorney fee award thrown out by the Seventh Circuit last year without more information on one of the firm's graduated fee arrangements in a similar 2015 antitrust case, which wasn't disclosed in the first go-around.

  2. March 22, 2024

    Burford, Sysco Get OK To Swap Bid In Price-Fixing Cases

    An Illinois federal judge on Thursday agreed to allow an affiliate of legal investment firm Burford Capital to substitute for food giant Sysco in price-fixing litigation against broiler chicken producers, a ruling that comes a month after a Minnesota federal judge refused to allow the same Burford unit to substitute for Sysco in similar pork and beef price-fixing litigation.

  3. March 15, 2024

    Sanderson Beats Chicken Buyers' Antitrust Retrial Attempt

    Direct chicken purchasers who lost a price-fixing trial against Sanderson Farms cannot have another shot at bringing their case to a jury because their first trial was fair, and their circumstantial evidence couldn't defeat the company's competing proof, an Illinois federal judge has ruled.

  4. March 07, 2024

    Chicken Buyers Bail On Remaining Claims Against Producers

    A class of direct purchasers effectively threw in the towel Wednesday on continuing with class price-fixing claims against Perdue Farms, Claxton Poultry and others, cutting deals that abandon attempts to revive the allegations and allow the buyers to avoid up to $1 million in legal costs they might have owed the major chicken producers.

  5. February 01, 2024

    Sanderson Says Chicken Buyers' Retrial Bid Ignores Evidence

    An Illinois federal judge should reject thousands of chicken buyers' bid for either judgment or a retrial after a jury rejected their price-fixing accusations because ample evidence supported the verdict "and it is not a close call," Sanderson Farms argued Thursday.

  6. December 18, 2023

    Biggest Illinois Decisions Of 2023

    Illinois' state and federal courts did some heavy lifting in 2023 as they issued long-awaited guidance for litigating biometric privacy claims, resolved price-fixing allegations against major food industry suppliers and issued a pandemic-related tuition reimbursement ruling that may signal a dynamic shift within the Seventh Circuit. Here, Law360 looks back at some of the year's biggest decisions in the state.

  7. December 06, 2023

    Restaurant Chains Still Fighting Part Of $8M Chicken Deal

    Boston Market, Golden Corral, Cracker Barrel, Domino's and other restaurant chains continued Tuesday to contest part of an $8 million class settlement resolving other direct buyers' chicken price-fixing claims, arguing specifically that the deal improperly bargained away claims they still want to assert in a subsequent trial.

  8. October 25, 2023

    Illinois Jury Clears Sanderson In Chicken Price-Fixing Trial

    An Illinois federal jury sided with Sanderson Farms following a six-week antitrust trial on Wednesday, rejecting thousands of chicken buyers' claims that the company participated in an unlawful conspiracy to raise broiler chicken prices by limiting its supply.

  9. October 23, 2023

    Sanderson Tells Jury It 'Did Nothing Wrong' With Chicken Cuts

    Sanderson Farms Inc. "did nothing wrong" by cutting its broiler chicken supply in 2008 and 2011 because the company based those decisions on internal modeling and predictions rather than a widespread industry conspiracy, it argued to an Illinois federal jury Monday.

  10. October 16, 2023

    Sanderson Didn't Collude On Chicken Prices, Jury Hears

    An Illinois federal jury weighing price-fixing claims against broiler chicken producer Sanderson Farms heard from an expert witness Monday that the company made production cuts in its own interest, and that experts who have testified otherwise ignored important realities of the chicken industry.