Court Plucks Unjust Enrichment Claims from Turkey Price-Fixing Suit

On October 26, 2020, an Illinois federal judge tossed unjust enrichment claims and some state claims in the proposed class action brought by an indirect purchaser of turkey products against turkey wholesalers, including Perdue, Tyson, and others, accusing them of illegally trading confidential information to limit supply of turkeys and inflate prices.

U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall tossed the plaintiff’s unjust enrichment claims with prejudice because it failed to clearly state under which laws or which states it sought to bring those claims, and such pleading made it “exceedingly difficult” to know under which jurisdictions plaintiff wanted to proceed.  However, Judge Kendall declined to dismiss plaintiff’s federal antitrust claims, antitrust claims in more than 20 states, and consumer protection claims in more than 10 states.

The complaint, filed last April, alleges that defendants entered into an agreement to illegally exchange confidential price data through a platform called Agri Stats Inc., and use the information to cut supply of turkeys and raise prices to artificially high levels for seven years.  This conduct, plaintiff alleges, caused it to pay more for turkey than it would have under normal market conditions.