ST. LOUIS — Poultry producer Pilgrim's Pride said Monday that it plans to appeal a federal judge's ruling that it must pay nearly $26 million to a group of chicken farmers for trying to manipulate chicken prices in 2008.
Federal judge Charles Everingham ruled Friday that internal emails show Pilgrim's closed plants and cancelled its contracts with farmers with the express intention of cutting the supply of chicken and pushing retail prices higher, violating the 1921 Packers and Stockyards act.
As a result, Everingham said the Pittsburg, Texas, company must compensate dozens of independent farmers in Arkansas who raised chickens for the company under contract and were hurt financially by the scheme.
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