Secured Another Massive Summary Judgment Victory in Chickens Price-Fixing Case for Claxton Poultry Farms

Represent Norman W. Fries, Inc. d/b/a Claxton Poultry Farms in a series of 15+ antitrust class actions consolidated in the Northern District of Illinois and brought by plaintiffs who allege that Claxton and the nation’s other largest poultry producers conspired to fix the price of broiler chickens in a scheme from 2008 to 2016 that raised the price for broiler chickens by artificially reducing supply.

We delivered Claxton a resounding victory when Judge Thomas Durkin granted Claxton’s motion for summary judgment. Although the court found that there was a triable issue of fact concerning the existence of a price-fixing conspiracy within the chicken industry—and thus denied the summary judgment motions of 11 of Claxton’s co-defendants—the court held, as a matter of law, that if there was a conspiracy, Claxton played no part in it.

This ruling further exonerates Claxton and comes less than a year after we successfully defeated criminal indictments brought against Claxton and two of its employees in the District of Colorado.