Tyson Becomes First Company to Settle Upon Turkey Price-Fixing Complaints

Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) recently came to a financial settlement with a group of purchasers who claimed the multinational meat and poultry company was fixing the prices of their turkey products. After legal review, Tyson has a maximum of two weeks to pay $4.625M into an escrow account, following baseline approval of the proposed settlement. 

The group of direct purchaser plaintiffs (DPPs) will also receive “meaningful cooperation” from Tyson in the future, assisting outstanding claims against other notable food-based organizations, such as Cargill, Hormel Foods, Foster Farms and more.

In this position, Tyson is legally responsible for providing DPPs with their turkey sales data and financial documentation from the requested time period, as well as any documents that identify communication between industry-related competitors, custodial search term documents and any information shared with plaintiffs that would be deemed a substantial matter to settlement cases like this one. 

Displaying a broadened perspective of Tyson’s legal financial responsibility regarding their turkey product price fixing, the settlement equates to an approximate $1M per market share point, as Tyson currently holds 4-5% of the turkey market. 

Tyson could be the first of many other class action lawsuits that will analyze the financial operations and documentation of fellow food processing companies, all spawning from a December 2020 Chicago federal court filing. However, industry rival Kraft Heinz Foods is one of the few organizations dismissed from the complaint, as proven from evidence displaying no anti-competitive behavior upon the pricing of Kraft’s products.

Throughout this litigation’s timeline, Mitena Partners has closely monitored new developments, soon becoming a legally approved class certification. With more price fixings coming in due time to other food processing corporations, we are proud to be your source for up-to-date information on class action news and litigation-based services. To maintain that cutting edge on legal issues that may affect you, follow our blog for further postings and sign up for email updates on our website.