Pacific Seafood Group will walk away from a class action lawsuit without paying a cent in damages or breaking up the largest seafood buying company in the United States, according to a settlement agreement released Monday. The agreement must still be approved by a judge.
The company that once faced a damages claim of USD 500 million will likely wind up paying USD 2.6 million in attorneys’ fees, however, and has agreed to enact a list of “pro-competitive” practices that the fishermen who filed the antitrust lawsuit say will strengthen the West Coast fishing industry and hold Pacific Seafood accountable.
Pacific attorney Michael Esler called the settlement a victory, not just for his client but “for the system.”
As the case filed in 2010 by Brookings father-son fishermen Lloyd and Todd Whaley wore on, Esler said, it became clear there wasn’t the evidence to support claims that the company unfairly used its buying and selling clout to push around West Coast fleets. The company never contested that it had big market shares in whiting, crab, shrimp and groundfish. But in order to prove antitrust violations, a jury would have to be convinced that the company used that clout to unfairly keep prices suppressed, or otherwise harmed fishermen and competitors.
