American egg producers sued
New York state restaurant, T.K. Ribbing’s Family Restaurant of Falcone, has launched a lawsuit against 13 major U.S. egg producers and three egg trade groups, with the accusation that they deliberately fixed prices by reducing the supply of eggs in the last eight years.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The complaint also seeks class action status that was filed just days after the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was investigating possible antitrust violations in the egg products industry.
The restaurant believes that the defendants took part in a conspiracy that caused egg supplies to drop which led to a jump in prices. According to federal antitrust laws, competitors are not allowed to conspire for the purpose of altering prices.
The lawsuit says that the egg companies were able to dramatically increase the price of eggs from 2000 to record highs by 2007 and into 2008 through these measures.
The ways in which the egg producers conspired included delaying or reducing chick hatching, manipulate the molting of hens to keep egg production low, and restricting output in the United States and overseas exports.
The plaintiff is seeking a jury trial, and wants the case certified as a class action on behalf of other egg buyers who purchased directly from the producers. The lawsuit seeks triple damages as well as other relief under federal antitrust laws, plus attorneys’ fees and costs.
The defendants include Pilgrim’s Pride Corp, Cal-Maine Foods Inc and the trade group United Egg Producers Inc.
Related posts:
Sphere: Related Content
Leave a Reply