Our first runners-up this week are the defense teams that represented the five remaining five chicken industry executives who went to trial for a third time on criminal antitrust charges in federal court in Denver. You might remember we tapped the defense teams for five other execs as Litigators of the Week back in April when federal prosecutors dropped charges against them after the second trial ended with a hung jury.
No hung jury this time. Jurors last week acquitted the remaining defendants — Pilgrim’s Pride retired CEO Bill Lovette, his successor Jayson Penn, Pilgrim’s sales executive Roger Austin, Claxton Poultry president Mikell Fries and Claxton sales executive Scott Brady — of charges of fixing the price for broiler chickens.
