Poultry Producers Win Lawsuit Against OK Monopoly
ARKANSAS, US - After five long years embroiled in a class action law suit about 300 poultry farmers in LeFlore County, Arkansas, won a $21.1 million award against OK Industries for violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act.
17 March 2008
2 minute read
According to Usagnet, the five-year fight in federal court in Muskogee ended well for Charles Been of Heavener, who raised chickens for OK Industries, an Arkansas firm, for 18 years.
Been said OK has a monopsony, a condition in which there is only one buyer because they pay growers less once they start paying off loans they took out to build chicken houses. It's a system in which a parent company owns all the assets and farmers are left with all the liability, he said.
Usagnet says growers claimed that OK committed unfair business practices and used its power to impose practices on growers that decreased growers' pay and increased OK's profits.
