in Newswire Published on March 19, 2025

$203M Broiler Chicken Settlements Resolve Antitrust Lawsuit Claiming Buyers Were Overcharged

In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation

Filed: September 2, 2016 ◆§ 1:16-cv-08637

Dozens of lawsuits were filed claiming a group of chicken processors illegally conspired to limit the nation's chicken supply and artificially raise prices.

Defendant(s)

Agri Stats, Inc. Tyson Foods, Inc. Sanderson Farms Inc. George's, Inc. Perdue Farms, Inc. Perdue Foods LLC Pilgrim's Pride Corporation Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Processing Division) Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Foods Division) Koch Foods, Inc. JCG Foods of Alabama, LLC JCG Foods of Georgia, LLC Wayne Farms, LLC Mountaire Farms, Inc. Mountaire Farms of Delaware, Inc. Peco Foods, Inc. Simmons Foods, Inc. Simmons Prepared Foods, Inc. Fieldale Farms Corporation House of Raeford Farms, Inc. O.K. Foods, Inc. Harrison Poultry, Inc. Mar-Jac Poultry MS, LLC Mar-Jac Poultry, Inc. Mar-Jac Poultry AL, LLC Mar-Jac Poultry, LLC Mar-Jac Holdings, Inc. George’s Farms, Inc. Mar-Jac AL/MS, Inc. Tyson Chicken, Inc. Tyson Breeders, Inc. Tyson Poultry, Inc. Norman W. Fries, Inc. Foster Farms, LLC Foster Poultry Farms Koch Meat Co., Inc. Mountaire Farms, LLC O.K. Farms, Inc. O.K. Industries, Inc. Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Production Division)

Law(s)

Sherman Antitrust Act

State(s)

Illinois

Categories

Food Antitrust Class Action Settlement

New settlements totaling $22.5 million have been reached in a massive lawsuit that claimed a handful of chicken processors illegally conspired to limit the nation’s chicken supply and artificially raise prices for consumers—bringing the total class action settlement amount to over $203 million.

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A court-approved website, OverchargedForChicken.com, has been established for class members to file claim forms and find more information about the broiler chicken settlements.

The new class action settlements cover all individuals and entities who, between January 1, 2012 and July 31, 2019, indirectly purchased fresh or frozen raw chicken—including whole birds, whole cut-up birds in a package, breast cuts, or tenderloin cuts—from the defendants or their co-conspirators.

The covered chicken products do not include chicken that was marketed as halal, kosher, free range, organic, diced, minced, ground, seasoned, flavored or breaded, and the chicken must have been purchased in one of the following states or the District of Columbia: California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, or Wisconsin.

The defendants involved in the most recent class action settlements include Claxton Poultry Farms, Foster Farms, Harrison Poultry, House of Raeford, Koch Foods, Mountaire, O.K. Foods, Perdue, Sanderson Farms, Wayne Farms and Simmons. Previously, settlements totaling $181 million were reached with defendants Fieldale Farms, George’s, Mar-Jac, Peco Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride and Tyson.

The $203,350,000 settlement fund will be used to pay certain court-approved fees and expenses and will then be distributed among class members who file a valid, timely claim form, the settlement website states.

Per the website, the amount of each claimant’s chicken settlement payout will depend on several factors, including how much chicken each person bought, how much they paid, and how many total valid claims are filed.

Class members who have not already filed a claim for the previous chicken settlements can file a claim form online on this page. The deadline for filing a claim is July 31, 2025.

If you already filed a claim form for the previous settlements, you do not need to file another claim; your previous claim will be applied to the new raw chicken settlements. If you need to update information for your claim, you can email the claims administrator.

According to the website, payments will not be sent out until the new settlements receive final approval from the court and any appeals are resolved. A final approval hearing has been scheduled for June 30, 2025.

The initial broiler chicken lawsuit, filed in September 2016, alleged that the nation’s leading chicken producers violated federal antitrust law by coordinating production cuts to limit supply and artificially raise chicken prices over nearly a decade. The case will continue against the one remaining defendant, data analytics company Agri Stats, Inc., as the plaintiffs appeal a district court ruling in favor of the company.

Check out ClassAction.org’s lawsuit list for the latest top class action lawsuits.

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