Washington Attorney General Secures $37.7 Million In Chicken Price-Fixing Case

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson recently announced that he has resolved his antitrust lawsuit against the final defendants in a sweeping conspiracy to artificially raise the price of chicken for Washington families. The remaining three defendants — House of Raeford Farms, Wayne-Sanderson Farms, and Foster Farms — will pay $2.2 million, pending court approval. This brings the total recovery from Ferguson’s broiler chicken price-fixing case, which involved 19 defendants, to $37.7 million.

“The corporations involved in these conspiracies cheated in order to increase their profits — and they harmed families in the process,” Ferguson said. “We did what we set out to do — hold these corporations accountable for their greed, restore a level playing field that allows all businesses to thrive, and get money back to Washingtonians most harmed.”

In December 2023, Ferguson announced that $35.5 million from this case and $5.1 million from a similar case related to price fixing in the canned tuna industry would be returned to consumers most harmed by the conspiracies. Following a claims process that closed June 5, the office has distributed approximately $30 million to Washingtonians. The claims administrator is processing the remaining claims. The remaining funds will be used for future antitrust work, including the office’s challenge of the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons. The Attorney General’s Antitrust Division receives 100% of its funding from successful case outcomes.

As part of all resolutions, the 19 companies named in the original lawsuit entered into legally binding agreements to conduct internal training and certify that they have corporate policies to ensure they follow state and federal antitrust laws. Under the terms of the consent decrees, if any of them engage in price-fixing or other anticompetitive conduct in the next five years, the Attorney General’s Office can seek civil penalties in court.

In December 2023, Ferguson began mailing checks to Washingtonians as restitution from resolutions with chicken and tuna companies he sued for engaging in similar price-fixing conspiracies. The Attorney General’s Office had $35.5 million from resolutions in the chicken producers lawsuit and $5.1 million from the tuna lawsuits — $40.6 million overall. The office initially sent checks of $50 or $120 directly to Washingtonians whose household income was at or below 175% of the federal poverty level. Additionally, restitution was available through a claims process to households that did not receive a check.

As of July 4, 274,595 households had cashed the checks originally sent out in December 2023, totaling approximately $27 million for Washingtonians. Ferguson sent out a total of 28,530 additional claims checks. Of those, 15,709 have been cashed so far, for a total of $1,591,860. The deadline for claims passed on June 5, and the program administrator continues to verify additional claims made in its final week.

The lawsuit involved several major companies, with each company agreeing to different settlement amounts. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. settled for $11,000,000; Tyson Foods for $10,500,000; Perdue Farms Inc. for $6,500,000; Koch Foods Inc. for $1,400,000; Peco Foods Inc. for$800,000; Mountaire Farms Inc. for $775,000; Sanderson Farms for $750,000; Wayne Farms for $750,000; George’s Inc. for$750,000; Mar-Jac Poultry for $725,000; Amick Farms, LLC for $600,000; Norman W. Fries Inc. d/b/a Claxton Poultry Farms for $475,000; Fieldale Farms Corp. for $475,000; House of Raeford Farms Inc. for $460,000; Simmons Foods Inc. for $425,000; Case Foods Inc. for$395,000; OK Foods Inc. for $375,000; Foster Farms, LLC for $300,000; and Harrison Poultry Inc. for $290,000. Wayne Farms and Sanderson Farms, initially named as separate companies in the 2021 lawsuit, later merged.

These broiler chicken producers named in Ferguson’s 2021 lawsuit account for approximately 95% of the broiler chickens sold in the United States. Broiler chickens are used for everything from chicken breasts consumers purchase at the grocery store to chicken nuggets and chicken sandwiches at fast food restaurants. An estimated 90% of Washingtonians — about 7 million people — buy products derived from the chickens these companies produce. In addition, Washington businesses, colleges, hospitals, and nursing homes were impacted by the companies’ illegal conduct.

The Attorney General’s Office investigation revealed a coordinated, industry-wide effort to restrain production through the exchange of competitively sensitive information, signals during investor calls, and direct coordination between industry players. Ferguson asserts that their conduct violated Washington state antitrust laws.