In a significant development, Agri Stats, a company providing benchmarking reports for the broiler chicken industry, has successfully defended allegations of price-fixing and information exchange. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted a summary judgment filed by Hogan Lovells’ antitrust litigation team on behalf of Agri Stats on June 30, 2023. Read more about the case here.
The plaintiffs in the case, a group of class actions named ‘In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation’, alleged that the defendant chicken producers had colluded to restrict supply. They included Agri Stats in their claim, contending that the company had facilitated this collusion through the provision of statistical information.
However, the court disagreed with the plaintiffs and sided with Agri Stats, effectively absolving the company of any alleged wrongdoing. This decision comes as welcome news for not only Agri Stats but also other similar companies that facilitate industry benchmarking through their statistical services.
An essential function of such companies is to provide information that companies can use to compare their performance against industry standards. This legal victory reinforces the distinction between this legitimate function and enabling conspiratorial behavior as alleged by the plaintiffs.
The legal professionals observing this case would do well to note the implications regarding the provision of benchmarking or comparative data within industries. This case, in essence, reaffirms the idea that sharing statistical data for the purpose of benchmarking does not inherently facilitate or imply collusion or conspiratorial conduct.