Food & Agriculture Quarterly October 2017 | Page 10

OCTOBER 2017 FOOD & AGRICULTURE QUARTERLY PAGE 10 direct purchaser plaintiffs and defendant Fieldale Farms , pursuant to which Fieldale Farms also will provide substantial cooperation . The date of a Final Approval Hearing concerning the Fieldale Farms Settlement Agreement has not yet been set .
Bottom line
Consolidated agricultural markets are especially prone to lawsuits alleging violations of the antitrust laws , and vertically-integrated companies are vulnerable to claims brought by both their upstream suppliers and downstream customers . The more concentrated agriculture markets become , the more sensitive market participants must be to collaborating activities , such as information exchanges .
Jay Levine is a partner and co-chair of the firm ’ s antitrust practice group . He can be reached at 202.778.3021 or jlevine @ porterwright . com .
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