|
ANTITRUST
Chocolate Antitrust
Chimicles & Tikellis LLP, along with its co-counsel, has filed an antitrust price-fixing class action lawsuit in the District Court for the District of New Jersey against Nestle S.A., Nestle USA, Cadbury Schweppes plc, Cadbury Schweppes Americas, Cadbury Adams USA LLC, Mars Inc., Masterfoods USA, and the Hershey Company. According to the complaint, these companies – all of which are manufacturers in the chocolate confectionery industry - engaged in a conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain and/or stabilize the prices in the worldwide chocolate market, including the United States, from January 1, 2002 to the present.
The products at issue include chocolate bars, industrial chocolate (melted and powdered chocolate used as a manufacturing input) and block chocolate. The market for chocolate is highly concentrated, with the above companies controlling almost 50% of the worldwide market. Hershey’s, Mars and Nestle control over 80% of the US market, according to the complaint.
The complaint claims that on November 21, 2007, the Superior Court of Ontario, Canada issued search warrants to Canada’s Competition Bureau (“Bureau”) to investigate an alleged scheme to price-fix chocolate products in Canada. According to the complaint, the search warrants require the target companies to turn over reams of documents on their pricing arrangements. Nestle, Cadbury and Hershey’s have publicly acknowledged that the Bureau contacted them in connection with this investigation, according to the complaint. The Bureau’s investigation is focused on chocolate products but could expand to other types of candy, according to the complaint.
On December 20, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it has begun making inquiries of chocolate companies in the United States. Mars and Nestle have acknowledged receiving inquiries from the DOJ concerning their pricing practices in the U.S. chocolate market, according to the complaint.
If you directly purchased chocolate bars, industrial chocolate and/or block chocolate from Nestle S.A., Nestle USA, Cadbury Schweppes plc, Cadbury Schweppes Americas, Cadbury Adams USA LLC, Mars Inc., Masterfoods USA and the Hershey Company during the period January 1, 2002 to the present and are interested in further discussing our case and continuing investigation please contact the attorneys listed below for further information.
The complaint can be viewed by clicking here.
For further information, you may contact:
Joseph G. Sauder (JosephSauder@chimicles.com)
Daniel B. Scott (DanielScott@chimicles.com), or
Benjamin F. Johns (BenJohns@chimicles.com)
Chimicles & Tikellis LLP
One Haverford Center
Haverford, PA 19041
1-866-399-2487
| 
