Sanderson Farms Faces Trial in Chicken Broiler Antitrust Case

A blockbuster case accusing the nation’s largest poultry processors of conspiring to raise the price of chicken broilers is set for trial Tuesday, marking a milestone in the complex suit.

The trial is one of the largest antitrust cases involving the poultry industry, with billions of dollars of potential damages at stake. It centers on companies and others who directly bought broiler chickens — those raised for their meat and slaughtered before 13 weeks — from poultry processors.

The buyers, who include New York-based Maplevale Farms Inc., allege the poultry companies exchanged competitively sensitive non-public information about broiler prices, capacity, sales volume, and demand, including through third party co-conspirator Agri Stats Inc.

Over the years, several other poultry producers including Tyson Foods Inc. and Keystone Foods LLC have either been dismissed from the case or settled claims, leaving Mississippi-based Sanderson Farms as the remaining defendant in the trial set for next week, said Brian Clark, partner with Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP, a co-counsel for the class of direct-purchaser plaintiffs. Cargill Inc. and Continental Grain Co. purchased Sanderson in 2022, when it was the third-biggest US chicken company.

The trial also involves claims by about 50 direct-action plaintiffs, which are suing the defendants on their own as opposed to being part of a class.

Jury selection begins Tuesday, with opening arguments expected to start Sept. 18.

Sanderson, a Fortune 1000 company that produces, processes, and distributes fresh and frozen chicken and other prepared food items, didn’t immediately respond. To avoid expenses associated with continued litigation, the company could settle before the trial begins, during the trial, or even after a potential verdict.

Two other sets of users who ‘indirectly’ purchased chicken broiler meat — either at a store or restaurant, or from a distributor — will get their trial starting in March 2024.

Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP and Pearson Warshaw LLP are co-lead counsel for the direct purchaser plaintiff class in the trial. Proskauer Rose LLP represents Sanderson Farms.

The case is In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, N.D. Ill., No. 1:16-cv-08637, 9/12/23.