Chicken of the Sea, the US seafood business owned by Thai Union Group, has settled an anti-trust lawsuit involving more than two dozen customers.
In a statement, Chicken of the Sea, part of Thai Union US subsidiary Tri-Union Seafoods, said it had reached an agreement with 29 companies, including retailers Family Dollar Stores and Giant Eagle, “resolving their antitrust claims”.
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Under the terms of the agreement, Chicken of the Sea will pay an unspecified cash settlement and “work with the companies in the promotion of innovative Chicken of the Sea products”, the statement noted.
Christianna Reed, Chicken of the Sea’s general counsel, said: “The settlement is a significant achievement for COSI and our revamped management team. We are also hopeful it will encourage any remaining litigants to put posturing aside and work with us to find pragmatic solutions that reflect the industry’s challenging market realities. It is also an unfortunate reality that litigants who continue to pursue aggressive, unrealistic negotiation tactics are putting an iconic American seafood brand and American jobs at risk.”
The agreement is part of an industry-wide anti-trust case. In September 2017, Thai Union confirmed it was the whistleblower in a US investigation into claims of price-fixing in the country’s tuna sector.
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In May that year, another supplier, Bumble Bee Foods, agreed to plead guilty to one count of fixing prices and to pay a fine of $25m. Two Bumble Bee executives and one former StarKist executive also agreed to issue guilty pleas.
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By GlobalDataLast October, StarKist, the US seafood arm of South Korea’s Dongwon Group, filed a plea of guilty on price-fixing charges.
