Egg producers and two trade groups inflated prices for years, federal jury finds

Three major food companies overpaid for eggs for years because the country's top producers as well as two trade groups engaged in a scheme to restrict supply and inflate costs, an Illinois federal jury found on Tuesday.

The decision capped a five-week antitrust trial against Cal-Maine Foods Inc., Rose Acre Farms Inc., and two egg-industry trade groups, United Egg Producers and United States Egg Marketers. The verdict is a huge victory for the plaintiffs, General Mills Inc, Kellogg Co., and Nestle SA, Bloomberg Law first reported.

“We are incredibly pleased by the jury’s decision,” Brandon Fox, a Jenner & Block LLP partner representing the food companies, said. “For the first time, the defendants have been held liable for their antitrust violations. We are now going to turn our attention to the damages phase.”

The jury, made up of nine men and three women, agreed with the food companies that there had been an orchestrated plot to make them pay more for eggs than the market demanded. The jury also found that those practices unreasonably restrained trade in the egg market which is a violation of federal antitrust laws.

"The conspiracy did exist," Fox said in court. "You know the players. You know who did it. You've had an opportunity to see it day in and day out."

He added that his clients had spent "hundreds of millions of dollars" on egg products.

Egg producers and two trade groups inflated prices for years, federal jury finds


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/egg-producers-and-two-trade-groups-inflated-prices-for-years-federal-jury-finds/ar-AA1kmJPd