PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A class-action lawsuit against one of the country’s largest seafood distributors took a hit on Tuesday when a judge said the plaintiff’s attorney had failed to show the distributor had used its enormous market share to suppress prices paid to fisherman.
That’s at the heart of the lawsuit filed by two southern Oregon commercial fishermen against seafood giant Pacific Seafood, The Oregonian reports.
U.S. District Court Judge Owen Panner says Pacific Seafood has expanded the market for whiting, and that fishermen have been getting better prices as a result.
Attorney Mike Haglund filed the suit in summer 2010 that accuses Pacific Seafood of buying up processors across the western seaboard in order to drive down prices paid to fisherman. Such practices would violate federal anti-trust laws.
