December 2, 2024: Hartley LLP filed a complaint on behalf of a class of commercial and institutional payers alleging price fixing in the frozen potato market. The case alleges the four largest frozen potato food processors, McCain Foods, Lamb Weston, J.R. Simplot and Cavendish Farms, which control 98% of the market for frozen french fries, tater tots, hash browns and other potato products used by restaurants, maintained an illegal agreement to inflate the prices of those products. The producers engaged in identical price hikes since 2021. Restaurants have no other competitively-priced source for those products given the defendants’ dominance in the market.
