Agri Stats has settled poultry price-fixing lawsuits related to chickens and turkeys, but still faces lawsuits related to pork and beef.
A federal judge has granted preliminary approval of a settlement between Agri Stats and a class of indirect chicken and turkey purchasers in two separate cases, potentially bringing an end to a decade-long antitrust case tied to the poiultry industry’s data-sharing practices.
Under the settlement, Agri Stats agreed to a discontinue its chicken sales reports and to implement new restrictions on data disclosure, including limits on sharing non-public subscriber information and requirements to aggregate data and make companies anonymous.
The agreement restricts the inclusion of plant-level production and pricing data in reports and requires that reported data reflect aggregated information from multiple entities, with safeguards designed to prevent identification of individual companies.
Additional provisions include enhanced antitrust compliance measures, such as annual employee training, the adoption of a formal compliance policy and the appointment of an outside attorney to oversee adherence.
