O.K. Foods and affiliated companies O.K. Farms and O.K. Industries have reached an agreement in principle to settle in a lawsuit in which U.S. poultry producers were accused of limiting supply to drive up the price of chicken.
According to a court document filed on July 17 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, O.K. Foods and its affiliated companies reached a settlement with the plaintiffs, a class representing end users of poultry products.
“Consistent with the parties’ agreement, end user consumer plaintiffs will move for preliminary approval, and ultimately, final approval of the proposed settlement in the near future,” read the document, which was submitted by the co-lead counsel for the end user consumer plaintiffs.
The two law firms representing the class are Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll.
A settlement in the case does not represent an admission of guilt, defendant companies have consistently said throughout the legal process of these antitrust suits.
Headquartered in Fort Smith, Arkansas, O.K. Foods is the 16th largest poultry producer in the United States, having processed 15.3 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis during the past year. It is a subsidiary of Mexico-based Industrias Bachoco, the country’s largest broiler producer.
