Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and the Department of Justice filed a complaint against three egg producers on June 29, 2026.  In the complaint, plaintiffs alleged that between June 2022 and March 2025, the defendants submitted bids that aimed to inflate daily price quotations for eggs that were published by Urner Barry.  Because contracts between the defendants and retailers incorporated priced based on Urner Barry’s price quotations, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants’ actions lead to higher prices for eggs sold to retailers, which also lead to higher prices for consumers.  The plaintiffs brought a claim that defendants actions violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

Contemporaneously with the complaint, plaintiffs filed proposed final judgments and stipulated orders agreed to by defendants.  In the stipulated orders, defendants agreed to pay the states an aggregate of $3.3 million and donate 53 million eggs to food banks and community organizations in the states.  Under the proposed final judgments, defendants would be barred from communicating with competitors about their bidding strategies and pricing and would be required to establish antitrust compliance programs.