From Ranch to Courtroom: The Major Figures in the Cattle Antitrust Litigation

$83.5-Mil. Settlement with JBS Up for Final Approval at Aug. 15 Hearing

In 2019, several organizations that represent U.S. cattle producers filed a lawsuit alleging that the four largest meat packers—the companies that buy fed cattle, slaughter them, and fabricate them into beef—in the United States conspired to reduce or eliminate competition among them for the purchase of fed cattle—cattle finished on a high energy ration—thereby artificially reducing the price cattle feeders received for their finished fed cattle.

Specifically, the Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants conspired through two mechanisms: