$40.6M in restitutions on the way to Washingtonians from chicken, tuna price-fixing lawsuit

WASHINGTON STATE — About 15% of Washington state's population lives in households that will receive a check in the mail for purchasing chicken or tuna products.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson's office said it's providing $40.6 million in financial restitution to all households whose income is at or below 175% of the federal poverty level for price-fixing conspiracies that cost Washingtonians millions. That means about 402,200 Washington households — or 1.2 million Washingtonians — will receive checks, according to Ferguson.

Single-person households will receive a $50 check, while multi-person households will receive $120.

The first round of checks were mailed on Tuesday. The rest will be sent before Dec. 31, said Ferguson, who is running for governor in 2024.

Washington families were cheated by corporate price-fixing conspiracies they knew nothing about, and now those who felt this gouging most severely are receiving checks from my office," Ferguson said. "The holiday season puts a financial strain on families, and we hope Washingtonians are helped by these checks.

According to Ferguson's office, the restitution payments are aimed at helping Washingtonians "least able to afford the harm caused by the price-fixing schemes."

Ferguson said his office recovered $35.5 million from resolutions with 15 of 19 broiler chicken producers named in a 2021 price-fixing lawsuit. The 19 producers account for about 95% of the broiler chickens sold in the U.S., which are used for everything from chicken breasts sold at grocery stores to chicken nuggets and sandwiches at fast-food restaurants, Ferguson said.

Ferguson accused all 19 chicken producers of driving up the price of chicken since at least 2008, causing consumers to overpay by millions of dollars.

"The lawsuit asserts a widespread illegal conspiracy to inflate and manipulate prices, rig contract bids, illegally exchange information and coordinate industry supply reductions to maximize profits," Ferguson's office wrote. "Ferguson asserts their conduct violated Washington state antitrust laws.

"The Attorney General’s Office investigation found a coordinated, industry-wide effort to restrain production through the exchange of competitively sensitive information, signals during investor calls and direct coordination between players in the industry."

A trial against the three remaining producers — Foster Farms, Wayne-Sanderson Farms and House of Raeford Farms — is scheduled for October, according to Ferguson's office.

More than $5.1 million was recovered in cases against major tuna companies, according to Ferguson. Of that money, $4.1 million came from a resolution with StarKist, $500,000 came from a resolution with Chicken of the Sea, $100,000 came from a resolution with former Bumble Bee Tuna CEO Christopher Lischewski and $450,000 came from sanctions against Dongwon, StarKist’s parent company, according to Ferguson's office.

"Executives at the three companies called each other, texted, used private emails and in some instances had face-to-face meetings at pre-arranged locations such as hotels and restaurants to avoid detection so they could exchange internal company policies and data," Ferguson's office wrote.