Pacific Seafood Escapes Antitrust Class Action by Crabbers

Pacific Seafood shook off a proposed class action, for now, accusing it of fixing the price paid to crabbers for Dungeness crab landed in the Pacific Northwest.

Lead plaintiff, commercial crabber Brand Little, alleged Pacific gained control over the price paid to crabbers through “coercive combinations” with other wholesale buyers, and with some crabbers.

Little’s claims under Section 1 of the Sherman Act fail because he didn’t plausibly allege that Pacific Seafood coerced “substantially all” of the direct purchasers of fresh crab on the West Coast into an alleged conspiracy, Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse of the US District Court ...