SALT LAKE CITY, UT — Three major egg producers who illegally coordinated to drive up egg prices will be held accountable under a settlement announced today. Utah joins a bipartisan coalition of states and the U.S. Department of Justice in filing a complaint and proposed final judgment against Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., Versova Holdings, and Hickman’s Family Farms, following a joint federal and state investigation into the scheme.
The complaint alleges that the companies colluded to raise egg prices by submitting coordinated bids to Urner Barry, a market price index, and by sharing competitively sensitive information.
“Utah families were already stretched thin, and inflated egg prices stretched them further. Now our settlement changes how these companies do business and sends eggs straight to Utah food banks. That’s accountability that stops powerful companies that try to cheat the market,” said Attorney General Derek Brown.
According to the complaint, the producers submitted bids with the sole intention of artificially raising market prices, while regularly sharing pricing plans and bidding strategies with competitors. This conduct constitutes price fixing and is a per se violation of the Sherman Act.
Under the Proposed Final Judgments, the defendants are prohibited for five years from communicating with competitors about bids, agreeing on prices or supply, or influencing competitors’ bidding, and must submit annual compliance certifications under penalty of perjury. The companies will collectively provide over 53 million eggs and $3.3 million in monetary recovery to the participating states. Utah consumers will receive approximately 125,000 cartons of eggs and $93,000 will be paid to the state for antitrust enforcement. Eggs will be distributed through nonprofit organizations in each participating state. The settlement does not affect any ongoing class action lawsuits brought on behalf of egg consumers.
Joining Attorney General Brown and DOJ in securing this settlement are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin.