In what could be described as the largest egg-related settlement in universe history, Texas will receive more than 2 million eggs following a settlement between Cal-Maine and the Office of the Attorney General.
The move will resolve an April 2020 lawsuit by Attorney General Ken Paxton that alleged the company, the largest egg distributor in the nation, had hiked the price of eggs by roughly 300% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within 120 days of the settlement taking effect, Cal-Maine will provide 2.16 million large brown or white eggs to local food banks. Further, Cal-Maine has pledged not to raise egg prices during future designated disaster periods that would be in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Eggs are one product that has risen in price dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic, going from an average of $1.46 per dozen at the beginning of 2020 to $2.71 per dozen at the end of last year; the highest point they reached was $6.23 per dozen in March last year.
“My office will crack down on any corporation illegally raising prices on Texans,” Paxton said in a statement provided to Texas Bullpen. “Cal-Maine tried to take advantage of the people of Texas during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this settlement is an important step towards securing justice for the company’s unethical actions.”
“Our efforts to hold Cal-Maine accountable have secured reforms that will help prevent any further illegal price gouging and over two million free eggs that will be distributed by food banks across the state,” he added.
Cal-Maine, according to the settlement, does not admit any wrongdoing.
Price-gouging, historically an issue focused on by Democratic-aligned constituencies, became a focus of Republican administrations and offices of attorneys general across the country during the pandemic as common products became more scarce than usual.
Urban and rural food banks will receive eggs based on population size, according to the settlement reached by the AG’s office. At least 360,000 eggs are slated for both the North Texas Food Bank and Houston Food Bank, while at least 120,00 eggs will go to both the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, East Texas Food Bank and El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank.
Meanwhile, other jurisdictions have secured similar settlements.
In 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James reached a settlement with Hillandale Farms Corporation for 1.2 million eggs over almost identical allegations of price gouging during the pandemic after filing suit in August 2020 that followed Texas’.
“Hillandale may have run afoul of our state’s price gouging laws and hatched a plan that targeted our state’s most vulnerable in its darkest hour, but, today, we’re delivering 1.2 million eggs to feed hungry New Yorkers and make things right,” James said at the time of the state’s settlement.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison also resolved a COVID-era price gouging case for just over 1 million eggs. That case was filed in September of 2020.
Before those cases, the city of San Diego landed a settlement with Hidden Villa Ranch for a different reason: deceptive packaging that claimed the eggs were from California when they were, in fact, from other states. That company was ordered to deliver over 200,000 eggs to local San Diego food banks in 2015.
