A New York federal judge consolidated six proposed price-fixing class actions against domestic sugar producers, siding with plaintiffs who wanted to try the cases as part of a multidistrict litigation. Four proposed class actions from direct granulated sugar purchasers and two from indirect buyers are included in the consolidated case, which moves them under one docket for discovery and pretrial proceedings in the Southern District of New York. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero signed the order Wednesday.
The proposed class actions allege that the biggest players in the American sugar industry have conspired for years to share nonpublic pricing, production capacity and demand information with each other through an industry analyst, colluding to raise prices without the risk of competitors undercutting the commodity sellers on cost.
KPH Healthcare Services and Redner’s Markets are represented by William E. Hoese, Joseph C. Kohn, William E. Hoese and Douglas A. Abrahams of Kohn Swift & Graf PC, Michael L. Roberts, Erich P. Schork, Sarah E. DeLoach, Christopher B. Sanchez and Morgan Hunt of Roberts Law Firm US PC, Scott Martin, Michael Hausfeld and Michael P. Lehmann of Hausfeld LLP, Gregory S. Asciolla and Jonathan S. Crevier of Dicello Levitt LLP, Joshua H. Grabar of Grabar Law Office and Marc H. Edelson of Edelson Lechtzin LLP.
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