Price-fixing accusations have already been levied at several companies this year
December 7, 2020
Fast-food chain Chick-fil-A has filed a lawsuit against 17 chicken suppliers for allegedly jacking up prices and rigging bids on billions of dollars in orders that the company made. The defendants include Perdue Farms, Tyson Foods, Pilgrims Pride, and Sanderson Farms alleging they shared bids and pricing details.
Chicken has turned into a hot commodity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only is it harder to find on grocery shelves, but prices have shot up in recent months.
Price-fixing problems
Interestingly, two of the groups named in Chick-fil-As lawsuit -- Pilgrims Pride and Tyson -- have been down this road already this year. In July, Tyson opted to cooperate in a Justice Department price-fixing investigation under a leniency program that allowed the company to avoid criminal prosecution in exchange for helping the feds in a probe of other poultry suppliers. In October, Pilgrims Pride reportedly agreed to a fine of $110.5 million in a plea deal with the DOJ, which had accused the producer of price-fixing.
Chick-fil-As lawsuit went as far as calling the defendants moves a conspiracy and said that it had reasonably foreseeable effects on the companys business in the United States.
Naturally, the defendants didnt agree. We believe these claims are unfounded and plan to contest the merits, a spokesperson for Perdue told CNBC.