Law firm Pomerantz LLP has announced that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Tyson Foods, Inc. and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, is on behalf of investors who acquired Tyson securities between November 23, 2015 and October 6, 2016. This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Tyson Foods is Storm Lake’s largest employer. The suit in question targets only chicken production by the company, not the turkey or pork branches of the business with local plants.

The Complaint alleges that Tyson made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose facts about the company’s business, operations, and prospects. The lawsuit also claims that  “Tyson systematically colluded with several of its industry peers to fix prices in the broiler-chicken market” and that revenues during the period were resultingly based on illegal practices.

According to the suit, in September the market had its first inking of the situation when food distributor Maplevale Farms, Inc. filed an antitrust class action complaint in U.S. District Court in Illinois against Tyson and several other poultry producers, including Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, Perdue Farms, Inc., and Sanderson Farms, Inc., alleging that Tyson and the other companies named in the complaint had conspired since 2008 to manipulate the prices of broiler chickens—chickens raised specifically for meat production—by coordinating and limiting production and exchanging detailed information about prices, capacity, and sales volume.

On October 7, Pivotal Research downgraded Tyson from “Hold” to “Sell” status is their stock analysis, calling the Maplevale complaint “powerfully convincing.”

On news of the downgrade, Tyson’s share price fell.

Tyson is strongly disputing the allegations.

“While we don’t normally make substantive comments regarding pending litigation, we dispute the allegations in the complaints as well as the speculative conclusions reached by the analyst, and we will defend ourselves in court,” Tyson said in a statement. “Contrary to what the analyst assumed, we have not made any changes to our business practices in response to the complaints.”

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