September 18, 2024
Willkie successfully secured the dismissal of a multidistrict litigation alleging that its client Univar Solutions and other purported major manufacturers and suppliers of crop inputs – seeds and crop protection chemicals – conspired to fix the prices of their products.
On September 13, Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted the defendants’ joint motion to dismiss the consolidated amended complaint and closed the multidistrict litigation, finding that plaintiffs failed to substantiate claims that the suppliers conspired to inflate prices for their inputs, principally by agreeing among themselves to boycott online retailers.
Willkie and other defense counsel contended that the plaintiffs failed to plead a plausible boycott conspiracy, impermissibly relied on group pleading, and lacked standing pursue antitrust claims, among other failings. The Court squarely agreed.
“The Consolidated Amended Complaint [CAC] is Plaintiffs’ third attempt to state viable claims,” Judge Pitlyk said. “Plaintiffs were on notice of the deficiencies identified in the motion to dismiss for months before they filed the CAC. Despite that opportunity, Plaintiffs did not supplement their pleadings with allegations sufficient to overcome those deficiencies.”
Judge Pitlyk dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims under the Sherman Act and RICO with prejudice, dismissed the state law claims without prejudice, and closed the multidistrict litigation. In addition to the joint motion to dismiss, Willkie had filed a separate motion on behalf of Univar Solutions based on individualized issues.
The plaintiffs brought the purported class action on behalf of a nationwide class of farmers, alleging that, beginning at least as early as 2014, the defendants conspired to restrain trade in the market for all crop inputs sold in the U.S.
The Willkie litigation team was led by partners Craig C. Martin and Matt D. Basil and included associate Brandon Villa.
