Sanderson Farms Beats Investors’ Chicken Price Conspiracy Claims

Sanderson Farms Inc. investors can’t revive a would-be securities class action accusing the chicken producer of hiding an illegal antitrust conspiracy because they didn’t provide enough details, the Second Circuit said Dec. 10.

The investors alleged that Sanderson and other chicken producers colluded to inflate the price of chicken starting in 2008 and didn’t disclose the conspiracy, making the company’s statements misleading. But they didn’t plead the facts of Sanderson’s “underlying illegal acts” with the particularity necessary for the case to move forward, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said.

Sanderson’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings ...