Chicken Class Action: Settlement Tracks, Eligibility, and Deadlines

If you bought chicken between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2020, you may be covered by the broiler chicken class action lawsuits against Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue, Sanderson Farms, Koch Foods, and other major producers, but most claim windows have already closed. The direct purchaser deadline passed on June 1, 2024, and the commercial and institutional Round 2 deadline passed on June 19, 2025.¹² The end-user consumer track remained active in 2026, with an objection deadline of July 13, 2026 and a fairness hearing scheduled for September 1, 2026.³

What the Lawsuits Allege

The core claim is straightforward. Buyers accuse the country’s largest poultry processors of coordinating how much chicken they produced in order to push wholesale and retail prices higher, and of sharing sensitive pricing and production data through a common industry service. Plaintiffs say the conspiracy ran from at least 2008 through 2020.⁴ The alleged conduct violates Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which bars competitors from agreeing to fix prices or restrain trade.⁵

The settling defendants have not admitted wrongdoing. That’s standard in class action settlements and doesn’t affect a claimant’s eligibility.

The Three Settlement Tracks

The litigation split into three tracks based on how you bought chicken. Each has its own settlement website, class definition, and deadlines.

Direct purchasers: grocery chains, distributors, and other large-scale buyers that purchased chicken straight from the processing companies. This track totals roughly $181 million across settling defendants and is administered at broilerchickenantitrustlitigation.com.¹
Commercial and institutional indirect purchasers: restaurants, caterers, and other businesses that bought chicken from wholesalers or retailers for food preparation. This track recovered more than $140 million total and is administered at chickencommercialsettlement.com.²
End-user consumers: individual shoppers who bought chicken at grocery stores for personal use. Tyson’s consumer settlement alone was reported at $99 million. This track is administered at overchargedforchicken.com.³

Which track applies to you determines everything else: the deadline, the paperwork, and even whether your state lets you recover at all.

Who Qualifies

The Class Period and Covered Products

All three tracks share the same class period: chicken purchases made between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2020.⁶ Covered products include whole birds, breasts, wings, thighs, and other fresh or frozen cuts sold under any brand name. What matters is that you bought the chicken for your own use, personal or commercial, rather than for resale in unmodified form.

State Limits for Consumers and Restaurants

Direct purchasers can claim regardless of state. Indirect purchasers cannot. Federal antitrust law generally limits standing to direct buyers, so consumers and restaurants can only recover through the state laws that allow it.

For the commercial and institutional track, eligible states include Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.² The end-user consumer track covers a similar but not identical list. Check the specific settlement website for your track before assuming coverage.

Who Cannot Participate

The defendants themselves, their corporate affiliates and subsidiaries, and any judges presiding over the case are excluded from the settlement class. Government entities are also typically excluded.

Deadlines and Current Status

Timing is where most readers will find their answer, one way or the other.

Direct purchasers: the claim deadline passed on June 1, 2024. Distributions from the first round of settling defendants (Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, Peco, George’s, Amick, and Fieldale Farms) have already been paid. New settlements with the remaining defendants received final approval, and additional distributions were underway in 2026.¹
Commercial indirect purchasers: the Round 2 claim deadline passed on June 19, 2025. Restaurants and food-service businesses that didn’t file by that date are no longer eligible.²
End-user consumers: the objection deadline is July 13, 2026, and the fairness hearing is scheduled for September 1, 2026. Check overchargedforchicken.com for the current status of new claim filings.³

Missed deadlines are not extended. Settlement deadlines are court-ordered and strictly enforced, and no late claims will be accepted.

How to File If You’re Still Eligible

Claim forms are available on the settlement website for your track. You’ll need contact information, an estimate of how much chicken you bought during the class period, and an indication of the brands or retailers involved.

For individual consumers, a sworn statement under penalty of perjury about your estimated purchases is generally enough. You do not need receipts going back to 2009. A reasonable estimate of your household’s weekly or monthly chicken spending, multiplied over the years, is the standard approach.

Commercial claims and higher-dollar consumer claims require stronger documentation. Acceptable evidence includes itemized receipts, credit card statements showing grocery purchases, purchasing records from wholesale distributors, or business ledgers. Better records generally mean a larger validated claim.

File online where possible. You’ll get an immediate confirmation code you can use to track the claim. If you file by mail, use certified mail so you have proof of the postmark date, and keep copies of everything.

What You’ll Actually Receive

Before anyone gets paid, the court approves attorney fees and litigation costs from the settlement fund. In the direct purchaser track, the Seventh Circuit set attorney fees at 26.6% of the net settlement fund after class counsel initially requested 38%. Administrative expenses come out too.

The rest is divided proportionally. Each claimant’s share reflects their documented purchases relative to the total claimed by everyone in the class. Larger and better-documented purchases produce larger checks.

For most individual consumers, that share is modest. Millions of people bought chicken during the class period, and a finite pool split many ways rarely produces headline numbers. Commercial buyers with substantial documented purchases fare better in absolute dollars. Payments go out only after appeals are resolved and the court issues a final distribution order, and claimants can typically choose between a check and an electronic payment.

What You Give Up by Accepting Payment

Taking a settlement payment means releasing the settling defendants from future claims tied to the same price-fixing allegations, including claims you didn’t know about when the settlement was finalized.³

If you do nothing, you’re treated as a class member by default. You’re bound by the settlement terms, you lose the right to sue the settling defendants over these issues, and you receive whatever your claim entitles you to, or nothing if you never filed a claim form.³

Opting out preserves your right to sue individually, but it also means no settlement money. For most individual consumers, the cost of an independent lawsuit dwarfs any realistic recovery, so opting out generally only makes sense for large commercial buyers with substantial documented losses.

Are Settlement Payments Taxable?

Yes, generally. Federal tax law includes all income in gross income unless a specific exclusion applies.⁷ The exclusion for damages received for personal physical injuries does not cover chicken overcharges, because the loss is economic rather than physical.⁸

If you receive $600 or more, the settlement administrator will issue a Form 1099 reporting the payment to the IRS. Smaller amounts are technically still reportable. Commercial entities should treat the payment as ordinary business income. The IRS looks at what the payment is intended to replace, and here it replaces amounts you overpaid for a product.⁸

1
Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation. Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation
2
Broiler Chicken Commercial. Broiler Chicken Commercial Settlement
3
Overcharged for Chicken. Frequently Asked Questions
4
Choices Magazine. Is There Price Fixing in the U.S. Broiler Chicken Industry?
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. Chapter 1 – Monopolies and Combinations in Restraint of Trade
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WRAL. If You Bought Chicken From 2009 to 2020, You May Qualify for Cash Settlement
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 61 – Gross Income Defined
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Internal Revenue Service. Tax Implications of Settlements and Judgments