July 20, 2020

Notifying thousands of victims in poultry price-fixing case poses challenge for gov't lawyers

Four poultry company executives charged with price fixing has allegedly victimized thousands of consumers in the US, creating a big headache for government lawyers in trying to notify them individually or according their rights under the Crime Victims' Rights Act (CVRA), Food Safety News (FSN) reported.

Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys Heather Call and Michael Koenig have asked the US District Court for Colorado to allow a "reasonable alternative notification procedures for notifying thousands of potential victims".

Pilgrim's Pride CEO Jayson Jeffrey Penn and Vice President Roger Austin; and Claxton Poultry Farms President Mikell Fries and Vice President Scott Brady have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to restrain trade in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Anti-trust Act, as per report. 

The alleged violation relates to bid-rigging and price-fixing for broiler chicken products sold in the US between 2012 and 2017.

The DOJ attorneys have specifically suggested to US District Court Judge Philip Brimmer that they be allowed to notify the price-fixing victims through the DOJ's publicly accessible website for crime victims and by providing written notice to the plaintiff's counsel in a "parallel civil action that is pending in the Northern District of Illinois", according to the FSN report.

The DOJ attorneys wrote Judge Brimmer: "In a case where the court finds that the number of crime victims makes it impracticable to accord all of the crime victims the rights described in subsection (a), the court shall fashion a reasonable procedure to give effect to this chapter that does not unduly complicate or prolong the proceedings".

They added: "[T]he CVRA places no limitations on the alternative procedures which a court may fashion other than that the procedures be reasonable to effectuate the Act and that they not unduly complicate or prolong the proceedings". 

The report said that a trial in federal court in Denver is scheduled to begin on Feb. 16, 2021.