The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a letter to Judge Thomas M. Durkin of the Northern District of Illinois relating to the broiler chicken antitrust lawsuit on Friday saying at this time they will continue to not stay discovery in the case despite possibilities of the case interfering with the DOJ’s related criminal lawsuit.
The United States is an intervenor in the court case, which comprises lawsuits from farms, restaurant groups, individuals, and grocery companies claiming that multiple chicken companies conspired to raise the price of broiler chickens starting in 2008.
One purpose of the letter was to say that the U.S. government does not have a position on some of the defendants’ motion to exclude bid-rigging claims from the consolidated case. The government stated instead that once the issue is resolved, the government will “have an interest in ensuring whatever discovery is sought on these claims does not interfere with the grand jury’s investigation or the government’s active criminal litigation.”
The letter also said that since multiple plaintiffs have cited the criminal litigation in complaints, the risk that the civil actions will interfere with the criminal prosecution is rising. The DOJ said that at this time it is not staying discovery in the case, but that it will revisit the possibility if more interference in the criminal investigation seems likely.
The DOJ did ask that if the motion to exclude is granted, that they continue to receive discovery requests filed in the separated cases and be given time to file objections as needed, as is the current process in the consolidated case. The letter stated, “the government is prepared to submit a motion and proposed order to formalize the parties’ need to provide the United States with copies of all discovery requests … whether or not that discovery is propounded or taken within the In re Broiler Chickens consolidated proceedings or outside of it.”
Michael T. Koenig, Carolyn M. Sweeney, and Paul J. Torzilli, three trial attorneys in the DOJ antitrust division who submitted the letter, said the information in the letter was summarized in a conference call last Thursday to parties involved in the litigation. Although they asked for objections in the call, none were submitted before the letter was sent the next day.