The nation’s largest egg producer must answer charges of price-gouging from Texas authorities, an appeals court has ruled.
Cal-Maine Foods had won a dismissal of a lawsuit over pricing during the pandemic, brought by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton. However, a Texas appeals court reinstated the lawsuit, remanding it to the trial court for further proceedings.
The trial court had dismissed the case in part because it accepted Cal-Maine’s argument that the prices it charged for eggs were not “exorbitant” or “excessive,” as the Texas statue requires. The appeals court ruled that not enough information had been made available during discovery to rule out the possibility that Cal-Maine’s prices were indeed excessive.
Attorneys general have sued egg companies over alleged price-gouging in New York and Minnesota, as well as Texas. The New York case ended in a settlement that involved a charitable donation of 1.2 million eggs.
