A U.S. federal judge has denied a motion to dismiss a price-fixing lawsuit brought by Brand Little and Robin Burns that alleges Dungeness crab buyers in the U.S. states of California, Washington, and Oregon engaged in price-fixing.
The lawsuit follows an earlier, similar lawsuit by Little filed in March 2023 that alleged Pacific Seafood engaged in anticompetitive behavior and artificially suppressed the price paid to fishermen for Dungeness crab. That lawsuit was ultimately dismissed in May 2024 after U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Alex G. Tse ruled Little’s lawsuit did not sufficiently prove his case.
“Little’s allegations, while not bare bones, aren’t specific enough to support a plausible multi-hundred-member buyer cartel. He needs to offer more detail before the court will allow him to proceed with a claim that could involve hundreds of non-parties in discovery,” Tse wrote in the original decision.
Tse gave Little the ability to amend most of his claims by 20 August 2024 – and the plaintiff ultimately did so and filed a new lawsuit on 20 August against Pacific Seafood, along with several other companies.
Tse’s latest action was to ...
