AG: Washingtonians overpaid millions for chicken; $35M recovered in lawsuit

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson says price-fixing by chicken producers led Washington residents to overpay millions of dollars.

As a result of a lawsuit filed in Oct. 2021, $35 million was recovered when 14 of the 19 companies named in the lawsuit paid to resolve the claims against them.

It is estimated that 90% of people — about 7 million — living in Washington buy products derived from the chickens the companies produce, from chicken breasts bought from a grocery store to nuggets bought at a fast-food restaurant.

The lawsuit says the 19 chicken producers drove up chicken prices since at least 2008 and that there is a “widespread illegal conspiracy to inflate and manipulate prices, rig contract bids, illegally exchange information and coordinate industry supply reductions to maximize profits.”

Three of the country’s four largest chicken producers — Perdue Farms, Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride — paid settlements.

The 14 companies that paid to resolve the claims are:

• Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. for $11 million
• Tyson Foods for $10.5 million
• Perdue Farms, Inc. for $6.5 million
• Koch Foods Inc. for $1.4 million
• Peco Foods, Inc. for $800,000
• Mountaire Farms, Inc. for $775,000
• George’s, Inc. for $750,000
• Mar Jac Poultry for $725,000
• Amick Farms, LLC for $600,000
• Fieldale Farms Corp. For $475,000
• Simmons Foods, Inc. for $425,000
• Case Foods, Inc. for $395,000
• O.K. Foods, Inc. for $375,000
• Harrison Poultry, Inc. for $290,000

The remaining chicken producers named in the lawsuit are:

• Foster Farms, LLC
• Sanderson Farms, Inc.
• Wayne Farms, LLC
• House of Raeford Farms, Inc.
• Norman W. Fries, Inc. d/b/a Claxton Poultry Farms, Inc.

A trial against those five companies is set for Oct. 2024.

Ferguson’s office said it is working on a plan to distribute money from the lawsuit to help those affected.

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