Bailey Brauer PLLC represented Pilgrim’s in antitrust lawsuit DALLAS – A federal judge in Marshall, Texas, ruled in favor of Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. in a $500 million antitrust lawsuit filed by a group of poultry growers who accused the company of unfair trade practices and manipulating poultry prices. Pilgrim’s originally was sued by more than 500 plaintiffs who were current or former chicken growers in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, each of whom sought approximately $1 million in damages. They claimed, among other things, that Pilgrim’s forced them to spend millions of dollars to upgrade their operations before the company stopped doing business with them. The plaintiffs alleged Pilgrim’s made the move in order to manipulate poultry prices by reducing availability. The lawsuit claimed Pilgrim’s violated the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921, which governs the interstate purchase and sales of livestock, poultry and swine. The case is Adams, et al. v. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., No. 2:09-CV-00397, and was decided in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall. Pilgrim’s lead counsel was Clayton Bailey of Dallas’ Bailey Brauer PLLC. Pilgrim’s argued that it ceased operations with the facilities not to cause the chicken growers’ financial harm or manipulate the market, but rather because of market forces that led Pilgrim’s to file for bankruptcy protection shortly before the growers filed their lawsuit. In the opinion issued April 22, U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy Payne ruled in favor of Mr. Bailey’s client by dismissing the plaintiffs’ claims and holding that Pilgrim’s did not violate the Packers and Stockyards Act. In the seven-page ruling, Judge Payne agreed that Pilgrim’s shut down its operations at the contested facilities in response to “extrinsic market forces” and that

DALLAS and LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – The Louisville Board of Zoning Adjustment has approved JBS Swift’s proposal to implement a new, more humane slaughter method at the company’s pork processing plant in the city’s Butchertown neighborhood. The new system, approved April 17, will use carbon dioxide to render the hogs unconscious and unable to feel pain. The company needed zoning board approval to make room for a new building and equipment needed for the new system. Animal welfare experts say the carbon dioxide process is more humane and reduces the amount of stress for the animals. The method also is safer for Swift employees, who previously used approved electric devices for the same purpose. The change will make the Butchertown plant’s methods consistent with JBS’ three other U.S. facilities. “The carbon dioxide process is the preferred method because it reduces stress on the animals and is safer for workers,” says Clayton Bailey, name partner in the Dallas complex litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC and one of the attorneys representing Swift before the zoning board. “We’re pleased that the board approved the plan.” In addition to Mr. Bailey, Swift was represented by attorneys Glenn Price and Bart Greenwald, from the Louisville office of Frost Brown Todd LLP. Bailey Brauer PLLC is committed to providing efficient, effective legal representation in high-stakes litigation. Led by experienced trial and appellate lawyers Clayton Bailey and Alex Brauer, the firm focuses on complex commercial litigation, agribusiness, appeals, and class and collective actions.

DALLAS – Lawyers from the complex litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC have asked a Dallas judge to affirm a $46 million arbitration award against Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX), a joint venture of some of the nation’s largest retailers, including Wal-Mart, Target, Hobby Lobby and Best Buy. The filing is the latest volley in a dispute between Boston-based MCX and Bailey Brauer’s client Gemalto NV, a worldwide developer of digital payment technologies. In 2013, MCX contracted with Gemalto to develop a mobile payment platform that could be used at the roughly 40 retailers that make up the MCX consortium. In February 2014, MCX canceled its contract with Gemalto and hired competitor Paydiant to complete the work. Shortly thereafter, Gemalto filed an arbitration claim against MCX, seeking $40 million in damages, plus interest, attorney’s fees and expenses based on the wrongful termination of the contract. On March 18, 2016, a three-member arbitration panel unanimously found for Gemalto, awarding the company $42.8 million and an additional $3 million in attorney’s fees. On April 4, MCX filed a new lawsuit in Dallas state court seeking to vacate the arbitration award. Gemalto called on Bailey Brauer’s Clayton Bailey and Ben Stewart to assist the company in the state court dispute. Gemalto’s response, filed April 14, asserts that the arbitration panel did not exceed its authority in issuing the award and that the court should therefore uphold it. Mr. Bailey and Mr. Stewart also successfully prosecuted a discovery battle in Delaware superior court over the production of documents pertaining to MCX’s communications with Paydiant while MCX was still under contract with Gemalto. The arbitration panel’s award included Bailey Brauer’s attorney’s fees in the Delaware dispute. In the underlying arbitration proceeding,

DALLAS – JBS USA LLC and Swift Pork Co. have successfully resolved a 10-year dispute over Swift’s use of a parking lot near JBS’ pork processing plant in the Butchertown area of Louisville, Kentucky. On Jan. 12, the Louisville Board of Zoning Adjustment (BOZA) granted Swift a conditional use permit to use the lot as a staging area for trucks awaiting pick up by grocery stores and other buyers of Swift brand processed pork. Among other improvements, Swift has agreed to install clean combustion technology on trucks in the staging area; install a tall wooden fence around the lot; add a landscaped buffer zone; and refrain from operating within 100 feet of homes between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. The plant’s use of the lot has been in dispute since 2006, when the Butchertown Neighborhood Association Inc. and individual residents filed a lawsuit against Swift and the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, which leased the parking lot to Swift. Neighbors complained about noise and diesel emissions from truck engines, among other issues. The lawsuit sat mostly dormant until 2013, when the plaintiffs amended their filing to include Swift’s parent company, JBS USA, as a defendant. Around the same time, Swift and JBS brought in their longtime litigation counsel Clayton Bailey from the Dallas complex litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC to serve as co-counsel with fellow attorneys Glenn Price and Bart Greenwald from the Louisville office of Frost Brown Todd LLP. JBS and Swift defeated the lawsuit in March 2015, but still needed BOZA to grant its conditional use permit, which happened in January. “This has been a lengthy and complex dispute,” says Mr. Bailey. “But my clients weren’t going to back down, nor should they have.