Judge Grants Class Certification in Turkey Antitrust Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. – National consumer-rights law firms, Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP and Barrett Law Group, P.A. announced today that United States Federal Judge Sunil Harjani handed down an opinion certifying a class of restaurants and other commercial indirect plaintiffs who allege that the nation’s largest turkey producers conspired to illegally inflate turkey prices. The ruling, issued on January 22, 2025, also certified a consumer class and rejected the turkey producers’ attempt to exclude Plaintiffs’ economic experts. The case will now proceed toward trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
“We appreciate the thorough and thoughtful opinion from Judge Harjani, who examined the evidence in great detail,” said Michael Flannery, partner of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP and co-lead class counsel for the commercial plaintiffs, along with Sterling Aldridge of Barrett Law Group, P.A. “This decision is incredibly important to our clients, who look forward to proving at trial how they were harmed by turkey producers’ conspiracy that put profits above all else.”
In the 71-page document granting class certification, Judge Harjani stated, discussing the commercial class: “[Plaintiffs’ expert Dr. Russell Mangum] found that all or nearly all class members suffered some antitrust injury, which he confirmed by testing for impact at the individual class member level using a customer-specific regression methodology. The Court is satisfied that, for class certification purposes, [Dr.] Mangum’s regression analyses are common proof that all or nearly all direct purchasers paid overcharges because of the conspiracy and passed those overcharges to the [Commercial and Institutional Purchaser Plaintiffs a/k/a] CIIPPs.”
The certification enables restaurants, food suppliers, and other commercial entities impacted by the alleged price-fixing conspiracy to collectively pursue their claims, streamlining the process for seeking damages at trial. The class period covers purchases made between January 2010 and December 2016, and includes institutional food providers such as private schools and corporate cafeterias.
About Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP
Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP is a consumer-rights class-action law firm with offices in Washington, DC, New York, NY and St. Louis, MO. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at www.cuneolaw.com.
About Barrett Law Group, P.A.
From its home office in Lexington, Mississippi, Barrett Law Group, P.A. represents clients and litigates cases throughout the nation, including cases involving antitrust, insurance scams, defective products and pharmaceuticals, and consumer fraud. For more information, please visit https://barrettlawgroup.com/.