Maplevale Farms, Inc. v. Koch Foods, Inc. et alMOTIONN.D. Ill.April 25, 2019UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION IN RE BROILER CHICKEN ANTITRUST LITIGATION Case No: 16-cv-8637 This Document Relates To: Save Mart Supermarkets v. Tyson Foods, Inc., et al, No. 19-cv-2805 Judge Thomas Durkin Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert SAVE MART SUPERMARKET’S MOTION FOR REASSIGNMENT BASED ON RELATEDNESS PURSUANT TO LOCAL RULE 40.4 Plaintiff, Save Mart Supermarkets (“Save Mart”), in Case No. 19-cv-2805, by and through undersigned counsel and pursuant to Local Rule 40.4, respectfully moves this Court, for reassignment of its case based on relatedness, and in support thereof, Plaintiff states as follows: 1. Plaintiff seeks for this Court to transfer the case, Save Mart Supermarkets v. Tyson Foods, Inc., et al., Case No. 19-cv-2805, based on a finding of relatedness under Local Rule 40.4. LR 40.4(c) 2. LR 40.4(c) requires that the Motion for Reassignment “shall be filed in the lowest- numbered case of the claimed related set and noticed before the judge assigned to that case.” 3. LR 40.4(c) also directs that the party filing the motion attach a copy of the complaint from the case thought to be related. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s redacted complaint from Case No. 19-cv-2805, is attached hereto as Ex. 1.1 1 Simultaneous with this filing, Plaintiff separately moves to file portions of its Complaint under seal. Case: 1:16-cv-08637 Document #: 2158 Filed: 04/25/19 Page 1 of 4 PageID #:101982 2 4. Finally, LR 40.4(c) provides that a “motion for reassignment based on relatedness may be filed by any party to a case,” and directs the party filing the motion to: “(1) set forth the points of commonality of the cases in sufficient detail to indicate that the cases are related within the meaning of section (a), and (2) indicate the extent to which the conditions required by section (b) will be met if the cases are found to be related.” LR 40.4(a) 5. Pursuant to LR 40.4(a), two or more civil cases may be related if, “... (2) the cases involve the same issues of fact or law;” or “(3) the cases grow out of the same transaction or occurrence.” 6. The present case, those already found to be related,2 and Plaintiff’s newly-filed Case No. 19-cv-2805, are all related because all involve many of the same issues of fact and law and grow out of the same basic occurrence. Specifically, the present case and the related actions are each based upon Defendants’ conspiracy to increase the prices of chicken sold in the United States. These actions all concern the alleged illegal agreements and restraint of trade among chicken producers and others in the industry, beginning at least as early as 2008 through at least as late as 2016, through which Defendants successfully implemented supra-competitive chicken prices to Plaintiffs and other purchasers throughout the United States. 7. Moreover, while there may be slight variation as to the Defendants from case to 2 According to the Court’s docket (16-cv-08637) as of April 25, 2019, related cases include 16-cv-08737,16-cv-08851, 16-cv-08874, 16-cv-08931, 16-cv-09007, 16-cv-09421, 16-cv- 09490, 16-cv-09589, 16-cv-09684, 16-cv-09900, 16-cv-09912, 17-cv-07176, 17-cv-08850, 18-cv- 00245, 18-cv-00700, 18-cv-00702, 18-cv-03471, 18-cv-04000, 18-cv-04534, 18-cv-05341, 18-cv- 05345, 18-cv-05351, 18-cv-05877, 18-cv-06316, 18-cv-06673, 18-cv-06693, 18-cv-07284, 18-cv- 08511, 19-cv-00354, 19-cv-00390, 19-cv-00530, 19-cv-00638, and 19-cv-1283. Save Mart’s Complaint is materially identical to the First Amended Complaint filed by The Kroger Co., Hy- Vee, Inc., and Albertsons Companies, Inc. on April 18, 2019. See Dkt. No. 2105. Case: 1:16-cv-08637 Document #: 2158 Filed: 04/25/19 Page 2 of 4 PageID #:101983 3 case, the Defendants in Plaintiff’s Complaint (see Exhibit 1) are all defendants in the present matter and related actions. Further, the Defendants named in Plaintiffs’ Complaint are comprised of Defendants in the cases which were already found to be related. Plaintiffs do not seek to introduce any new Defendants. LR 40.4(b) 8. Pursuant to LR 40.4(b), this Court may reassign Save Mart Supermarkets v. Tyson Foods, Inc., et al., Case No. 19-cv-2805, if it relates to the present lawsuit under LR 40.4(a), “and each of the following criteria is met: (1) both cases are pending in this Court; (2) the handling of both cases by the same judge is likely to result in a substantial saving of judicial time and effort; (3) the earlier case had not progressed to the point where designating a later filed case as related would be likely to delay the proceedings in the earlier case substantially; and (4) the cases are susceptible of disposition in a single proceeding.” 9. Aside from the case sought to be reassigned, all of the aforementioned litigation is pending in the Northern District of Illinois before Judge Durkin. 10. The Court can save substantial time and effort by, among other things, coordinating discovery issues and briefing. WHEREFORE Plaintiff Save Mart Supermarkets respectfully requests that this Honorable Court grant its motion for reassignment based on relatedness pursuant to Northern District of Illinois Local Rule 40.4. Case: 1:16-cv-08637 Document #: 2158 Filed: 04/25/19 Page 3 of 4 PageID #:101984 4 Dated: April 25, 2019 Respectfully submitted, Richard Alan Arnold, Esquire William J. Blechman, Esquire Douglas H. Patton, Esquire Samuel J. Randall, Esquire Brandon S. Floch, Esquire KENNY NACHWALTER, P.A. 1441 Brickell Avenue Suite 1100 Miami, Florida 33131 Tel: (305) 373-1000 Fax: (305) 372-1861 E-mail: rarnold@knpa.com wblechman@knpa.com dpatton@knpa.com srandall@knpa.com bfloch@knpa.com By: Samuel J. Randall Counsel for Save Mart Supermarkets CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on April 25, 2019, I caused a copy of the foregoing document to be served on all counsel of record via the CM/ECF system of the Northern District of Illinois. By: Samuel J. Randall 599540.1 sS sS Case: 1:16-cv-08637 Document #: 2158 Filed: 04/25/19 Page 4 of 4 PageID #:101985