StarKist Wins Class Status Appeal in Tuna Price-Fixing Suit (1)

StarKist Co. won its bid to overturn a ruling certifying three purchaser classes in multidistrict antitrust litigation over an alleged pricing fixing scheme, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided Tuesday that the lower court failed to resolve a key factual question.

The lower court abused its discretion in failing to resolve competing expert claims on the reliability of the plaintiffs’ statistical models, which was necessary to decide whether common questions of fact predominated over questions affecting individual class members, the appeals court said.

The tuna producers’ expert provided testimony and alternative statistical modeling suggested that ...