World’s largest salmon farmers face second class action lawsuit from Washington DC-based, Bagels & Baguettes.
Undercurrent News reports that a second plaintiff, the company Bagels & Baguettes – a small snack store – is sueing Norway’s salmon farming giants – in a lawsuit that echoes that of Ohio-based seafood distributor Euclid Fish Company.
According to Undercurrent that the suits alleges their business was harmed by “unlawful coordination” of the prices charged to direct salmon purchasers in the US.
The suit was also filed in a US federal court in Miami, Florida and is seeking to sue Mowi (Marine Harvest USA, Marine Harvest Canada, Ducktrap River of Maine), Grieg Seafood (Grieg Seafood BC, Bremnes Seashore, Ocean Quality, Ocean Quality North America, Ocean Quality USA, Ocean Quality Premium Brands) SalMar (Leroy Seafood Group, Leroy Seafood USA and Scottish Sea Farms).
The lawsuit cites the European Commission’s (EC) ongoing investigation into the sector, first revealed in February by Undercurrent News. The EC sent a letter to several salmon farmers asserting that the focus of its probe is on alleged price fixing of Norwegian salmon. This came despite raids taking place in the UK at the Scottish operations of Mowi (formerly Marine Harvest), Leroy Seafood Group, SalMar and Grieg Seafood.
The mass trial is based on US anti-trust legislation. According to the court document from Euclid Fish Company’s lawsuit, the Plaintiff believes that the alleged price manipulation has had a “direct, significant and predictable effect” on salmon trade in the United States.
SalmonBusiness has contacted all the defendants for comments on the Euclid lawsuit. Only Mowi and Grieg Seafood have so far answered our inquiries and have rejected all the charges.
