According to the law office of Shearman & Sterling, Judge Thomas M. Durkin of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss price-fixing claims brought by a group of chicken buyers against a large bank operating in the agribusiness industry.

The plaintiffs are a collection of food industry companies that purchase poultry from chicken producers. The defendant is Rabobank, a world leader in lending for chicken producers. The plaintiffs accused Rabobank of participating in an anticompetitive conspiracy with major chicken producers to inflate chicken prices by tightening supply.

The judge, however, found that the plaintiffs did not have sufficient evidence to infer that the company's communications with poultry producers concerned alleged conspiracy. The court granted Rabobank's motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims without prejudice.