About 400,000 state households will receive checks resulting from a lawsuit. Is one yours?
Thousands of Washingtonians will receive checks in the mail after an antitrust lawsuit was settled between tuna and chicken producers and the state.
On Wednesday, the state Attorney General’s Office announced that approximately 402,200 Washington households that are at or below 175% of the federal poverty level will receive checks.
Approximately 134,100 single-person households should expect a $50 check, while approximately 268,100 multi-person households will receive a $120 check. The first checks were mailed Tuesday, and more will be mailed through the end of December.
“Washington families were cheated by corporate price-fixing conspiracies they knew nothing about — and now those who felt this gouging most severely are receiving checks from my office,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a news release. “The holiday season puts a financial strain on families, and we hope Washingtonians are helped by these checks.”
Examples of households that will be eligible for a check include:
A family of five with a household income less than $61,495.
A single parent raising three kids on an income of $52,500, or less.
A single parent with two children making less than $43,505 per year.
A single parent of one, or a retired couple living on two fixed incomes, that total less than $34,510.
A retired individual who lives alone on a fixed income less than $25,515 per year.
The lawsuit was settled for $40.6 million, and direct checks to consumers total $38.9 million. The rest of the remaining $1.7 million will be held by the claims administrator for those who qualify for, but did not receive, a mailed check. Those who believe they qualify but did not receive a mailed check can file a claims form until June 5, 2024.
Resolutions with 15 of 19 broiler chicken producers that were named in a 2021 price-fixing lawsuit resulted in the recovery of $35.5 million, the AGO said. The 19 producers account for about 95% of all the chicken produced for consumption in the U.S., and the AGO claimed that “all 19 chicken producers drove up the price of chicken since at least 2008, causing consumers to overpay by millions of dollars.”
Brands such as Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride and Perdue Food were all named in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also claims that there was “a widespread illegal conspiracy to inflate and manipulate prices, rig contract bids, illegally exchange information and coordinate industry supply reductions to maximize profits.” That conduct violated Washington state antitrust laws, according to Ferguson.
“The Attorney General’s Office investigation found a coordinated, industry-wide effort to restrain production through the exchange of competitively sensitive information, signals during investor calls and direct coordination between players in the industry,” the AGO said.
Foster Farms, LLC; Wayne-Sanderson Farms, Inc. and House of Raeford Farms, Inc., who were also named in the lawsuit, have yet to go to trial but will do so in October 2024.
More than $5.1 million in funds also will come from tuna producers, including $4.1 million from StarKist. Chicken of the Sea will pay out $500,000 and former Bumble Bee Tuna CEO Christopher Lischewski will pay $100,000. StarKist’s parent company, Dongwon, will pay out $450,000 in sanctions.
“Executives at the three companies called each other, texted, used private emails and in some instances had face-to-face meetings at pre-arranged locations such as hotels and restaurants to avoid detection so they could exchange internal company policies and data,” according to the AGO.
The AGO said that before the price-fixing scheme began, Lischewski had complained to other tuna executives about the cost of canned tuna being “too cheap.” During testimony, two subordinates said they were given very clear and direct orders to fix the price of canned tuna.
