A judge has found Tyson Foods Inc. not guilty of fixing chicken prices in the ongoing Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation case.
Judge Thomas Durkin dismissed the claims leveled by Kroger Co., Albertsons Cos., Hy-Vee Inc., Save Mart Supermarkets, Meijer Inc., Publix Super Markets Inc. and Supervalu Inc. among other grocery retailers, settling a dispute that began more than three years ago.
The stores claimed that Tyson and the other defendants in the chicken processing industry illegally conspired to maintain higher chicken prices paid by retailers for nearly a decade. The latest ruling noted that the dismissal has no bearing on the plaintiffs’ claims against any other defendants in the case.
Earlier this month, Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride and Mar-Jac Poultry agreed to pay a total of nearly $93.5 million to settle price-fixing charges and cooperate in any future prosecutions in the case against other poultry processing firms. Tyson earlier agreed to pay $21 million to settle price-fixing allegations filed by chicken growers and reached a $1.75 million settlement with commercial and institutional chicken purchasers covering the period between Jan. 1, 2010 and Jan. 1, 2017.
