The attorney general of Washington state has filed suit against the top U.S. poultry companies, alleging that they engaged in a conspiracy to fix chicken prices.
The lawsuit by attorney general Bob Ferguson named 19 companies as well as Agri Stats, a news service that the defendants are alleged to have used to set prices. Defendants include some familiar names, including Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Sanderson Farms and Perdue Farms.
Ferguson acknowledged in a press release that the price-fixing claims for many of these defendants have been litigated, or are being litigated, in lawsuits in other locations, as well as a criminal trial now under way in Colorado. But he said Washington consumers deserve their day in court as well.
“This conspiracy cost middle-class and low-income Washington families more money to put food on their table,” Ferguson said in the release. “I will hold these companies accountable for the profits they illegally made off the backs of hardworking Washington families.”
