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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 28, 2021
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES General The Company is a party to many routine contracts in which it provides general indemnities in the normal course of business to third parties for various risks. Among other considerations, the Company has not recorded a liability for any of these indemnities because, based upon the likelihood of payment, the fair value of such indemnities would not have a material impact on its financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Financial Instruments The Company’s loan agreements generally obligate the Company to reimburse the applicable lender for incremental increased costs due to a change in law that imposes (1) any reserve or special deposit requirement against assets of, deposits with or credit extended by such lender related to the loan, (2) any tax, duty or other charge with respect to the loan (except standard income tax) or (3) capital adequacy requirements. In addition, some of the Company’s loan agreements contain a withholding tax provision that requires the Company to pay additional amounts to the applicable lender or other financing party, generally if withholding taxes are imposed on such lender or other financing party as a result of a change in the applicable tax law. These increased cost and withholding tax provisions continue for the entire term of the applicable transaction, and there is no limitation on the maximum additional amounts the Company could be obligated to pay under such provisions. Any failure to pay amounts due under such provisions generally would trigger an event of default, and, in a secured financing transaction, would entitle the lender to foreclose upon the collateral to realize the amount due. Litigation The Company is subject to various legal proceedings and claims which arise in the ordinary course of business. In the Company’s opinion, it has made appropriate and adequate accruals for claims where necessary; however, the ultimate liability for these matters is uncertain, and if significantly different than the amounts accrued, the ultimate outcome could have a material effect on the financial condition or results of operations of the Company. The Company believes it has substantial defenses to the claims made in the pending litigations described below and intends to vigorously defend these cases. Tax Claims and Proceedings During 2014 and 2015 the Mexican Tax Authorities opened a review of Avícola Pilgrim’s Pride de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (“APPM”) in regards to tax years 2009 and 2010, respectively. In both instances, the Mexican Tax Authorities claim that controlled company status did not exist for certain subsidiaries because APPM did not own 50% of the shares in voting rights of Incubadora Hidalgo, S. de R.L de C.V. and Commercializadora de Carnes de México S. de R.L de C.V. (both in 2009) and Pilgrim’s Pride, S. de R. L. de C.V. (in 2010). As a result, APPM should have considered dividends paid out of these subsidiaries partially taxable since a portion of the dividend amount was not paid from the net tax profit account (CUFIN). APPM is currently appealing. Amounts under appeal are $29.6 million and $17.9 million for tax years 2009 and 2010, respectively. No loss has been recorded for these amounts at this time. In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation Between September 2, 2016 and October 13, 2016, a series of purported federal class action lawsuits styled as In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 1:16-cv-08637 were filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (the “Illinois Court”) against PPC and 19 other producers by and on behalf of direct and indirect purchasers of broiler chickens alleging violations of federal and state antitrust and unfair competition laws. The complaints seek, among other relief, treble damages for an alleged conspiracy among defendants to reduce output and increase prices of broiler chickens from the period of January 2008 to the present. The class plaintiffs have filed three consolidated amended complaints: one on behalf of direct purchasers (“the Direct Purchaser Plaintiff Class”) and two on behalf of distinct groups of indirect purchasers. Between December 8, 2017 and April 16, 2021, 72 individual direct action complaints were filed with the Illinois Court by individual direct purchaser entities naming PPC as a defendant, the allegations of which largely mirror those in the class action complaints. Subsequent amendments to certain complaints added allegations of price fixing and bid rigging on certain sales, which have been stayed by the Illinois Court pending resolution of the original supply reduction conspiracy. On August 28, 2020, the Illinois Court issued a revised scheduling order through trial, which contemplates the close of all merits fact discovery on June 11, 2021, and summary judgment briefing and related expert reports proceeding from July 2, 2021 to February 22, 2022. The Illinois Court has set a trial date of for a first trial on October 17, 2022. On January 22, 2021, PPC filed oppositions to the indirect purchaser plaintiffs motions for class certification. Briefing on class certification, related expert reports and motions requiring expert testimony is currently scheduled to conclude on May 6, 2021. On March 17, 2021, the defendants filed a motion to amend certain deadlines relating to summary judgment briefing, expert reports, and fact discovery as it relates to certain plaintiffs. As of April 28, 2021, the Illinois Court has yet to rule on the motion. On January 11, 2021, PPC announced that it had entered into an agreement to settle all claims made by the putative Direct Purchaser Plaintiff Class, which the Illinois Court preliminarily approved February 25, 2021. As a result of this agreement, PPC recognized an expense of $75.0 million within Selling, general and administrative expense in the Consolidated Statements of Income for the year ended December 27, 2020. Pursuant to this agreement, PPC paid the Direct Purchaser Plaintiff Class this amount during the first quarter of 2021. On February 21, 2017, the Attorney General of Florida (“Florida AG”) issued a civil investigative demand (“CID”) regarding the broiler chicken market. The CID requests, among other things, data and information related to the acquisition and processing of broiler chickens and the sale of chicken products. PPC is cooperating with the Florida AG in producing documents pursuant to the CID. On August 6, 2020, the Attorney General of Washington (“Washington AG”) issued a CID regarding similar broiler chicken matters that are the subject of Florida CID. The CID requests, among other things, data and information related to the acquisition and processing of broiler chickens and the sale of chicken products. PPC is cooperating with the Washington AG in producing documents pursuant to the CID. On February 24, 2021, the Attorney General of Louisiana (“Louisiana AG”) issued a CID regarding similar broiler chicken matters that are the subject of Florida CID. The CID requests, among other things, data and information related to the acquisition and processing of broiler chickens and the sale of chicken products. PPC is cooperating with the Louisiana AG in producing documents pursuant to the CID. On September 1, 2020, the Attorney General of New Mexico filed a complaint in the First Judicial District Court in the County of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The complaint alleges the same claims as those made in the In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation under New Mexico state law. PPC filed its answer to the complaint on February 1, 2021. On February 22, 2021, the Attorney General of Alaska filed a complaint in Superior Court in the Third Judicial District in Anchorage, Alaska. The complaint alleges the same claims as those made in the Broilers Antitrust Litigation under Alaska state law. PPC plans to file its answer in due course. Other Claims and Proceedings On October 10, 2016, Patrick Hogan, acting on behalf of himself and a putative class of persons who purchased shares of PPC’s stock between February 21, 2014 and October 6, 2016, filed a class action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado (the “Colorado Court”) against PPC and its named executive officers (the “Hogan Litigation”). The complaint alleges, among other things, that PPC’s SEC filings contained statements that were rendered materially false and misleading by PPC’s failure to disclose that (1) PPC colluded with several of its industry peers to fix prices in the broiler-chicken market as alleged in the In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, (2) its conduct constituted a violation of federal antitrust laws, (3) PPC’s revenues during the class period were the result of illegal conduct and (4) that PPC lacked effective internal control over financial reporting. The complaint also states that PPC’s industry was anticompetitive and seeks compensatory damages. On April 4, 2017, the Colorado Court appointed another stockholder, George James Fuller, as lead plaintiff. On May 11, 2017, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint, which extended the end date of the putative class period to November 17, 2017. PPC and the other defendants moved to dismiss on June 12, 2017, and the plaintiff filed its opposition on July 12, 2017. PPC and the other defendants filed their reply on August 1, 2017. On March 14, 2018, the Colorado Court dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint without prejudice and issued final judgment in favor of PPC and the other defendants. On April 11, 2018, the plaintiff moved for reconsideration of the Colorado Court’s decision and for permission to file a Second Amended Complaint. PPC and the other defendants filed a response to the plaintiff’s motion on April 25, 2018. On November 19, 2018, the Colorado Court denied the plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration and granted plaintiff leave to file a Second Amended Complaint. On June 8, 2020, the plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint against the same defendants, based in part on the Indictment (defined below). On July 31, 2020, defendants filed a motion to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Colorado Court granted the motion to dismiss on April 19, 2021 and issued judgment in favor of defendants. On January 27, 2017, a purported class action on behalf of broiler chicken farmers was brought against PPC and four other producers in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma (the “Oklahoma Court”) alleging, among other things, a conspiracy to reduce competition for grower services and depress the price paid to growers. Plaintiffs allege violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Packers and Stockyards Act and seek, among other relief, treble damages. The complaint was consolidated with a subsequently filed consolidated amended class action complaint styled as In re Broiler Chicken Grower Litigation, Case No. CIV-17-033-RJS (the “Grower Litigation”). The defendants (including PPC) jointly moved to dismiss the consolidated amended complaint on September 9, 2017 for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Oklahoma Court granted only certain other defendants’ motions challenging jurisdiction. On January 6, 2020, the Oklahoma Court denied the pending Rule 12 motion, and lifted the stay on discovery. The case is currently in discovery. On October 6, 2020, the Oklahoma plaintiffs filed a motion with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (the “JPML”) seeking consolidation of a series of copycat complaints filed in September and October 2020 in the U.S. District Courts for the District of Colorado, the District of Kansas, and the Northern District of California. On December 15, 2020, the JPML ordered the transfer of all cases to the Oklahoma Court for consolidated or coordinated pretrial proceedings. On February 12, 2020, the Oklahoma Court entered a case management order in the multi-district litigation setting a February 1, 2022 deadline for the close of fact discovery. That order also set a deadline of September 15, 2022 for the filing of class certification motions, with deadlines of October 27, 2022 for opposition briefing and December 1, 2022 for reply briefing. Under the order, motions for summary judgment are to be filed on February 1, 2023, with oppositions and replies due March 22, 2023, and April 12, 2023, respectively. On March 9, 2017, a stockholder derivative action, DiSalvio v. Lovette, et al., No. 2017 cv. 30207, was brought against all of PPC’s directors and its Chief Financial Officer, Fabio Sandri, in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for the County of Weld in Colorado (the “Weld County Court”). The complaint alleges, among other things, that the named defendants breached their fiduciary duties by failing to prevent PPC and its officers from engaging in an antitrust conspiracy as alleged in the In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, and issuing false and misleading statements as alleged in the Hogan class action litigation. On April 17, 2017, a related stockholder derivative action, Brima v. Lovette, et al., No. 2017 cv. 30308, was brought against all of PPC’s directors and its Chief Financial Officer in the Weld County Court. The Brima complaint contains largely the same allegations as the DiSalvio complaint. The DiSalvio and Brima litigations (“the Derivative Litigation”) have been consolidated, and on October 14, 2020, an amended shareholder derivative complaint was filed which alleges, among other things, that the named defendants breached their fiduciary duties by failing to prevent PPC from engaging in an antitrust conspiracy as alleged in the Broiler litigation, the Indictment (as defined below), and other related proceedings; and by failing to prevent the issuance of false and misleading statements as alleged in the Hogan securities litigation and the UFCW securities litigation (as defined below). The consolidated case is currently stayed, pending the resolution of the motion to dismiss in the Hogan Litigation described above. Between August 30, 2019 and October 16, 2019, four purported class action lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland (the “Maryland Court”) against PPC and a number of other chicken producers, as well as WMS Webber, Meng, Sahl and Company and Agri Stats. The plaintiffs seek to represent a nationwide class of processing plant production and maintenance workers (“Plant Workers”). They allege that the defendants conspired to fix and depress the compensation paid to Plant Workers in violation of the Sherman Act and seek damages from January 1, 2009 to the present. On November 12, 2019, the Maryland Court ordered the consolidation of the four cases for pretrial purposes. The defendants (including PPC) jointly moved to dismiss the consolidated complaint on November 22, 2019. Shortly thereafter, the plaintiffs informed the defendants and the Maryland Court that they would be amending their complaint, which they did on December 20, 2019. The consolidated amended complaint asserts largely similar allegations to the pleadings in the consolidated complaint, but was extended to include more class members and turkey processors as well as chicken processors. The defendants filed motions to dismiss the consolidated amended complaint on March 2, 2020. The Maryland Court dismissed PPC and a number of other defendants on September 16, 2020 without prejudice. The plaintiffs subsequently filed amended complaints on November 2, 2020 re-naming PPC and the other dismissed defendants. The defendants moved to dismiss on December 18, 2020, which was denied by the Maryland Court on March 10, 2021. The Company believes it can be successful in defending and defeating the legal claims brought by the plaintiffs in this matter and, therefore, believes no accrual is required at this time. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company is exploring its options to settle this matter for cost of defense and to avoid all risk associated therewith provided it can reach acceptable monetary and non-monetary terms with the plaintiff class. All potential settlement discussions to date have been predicated on reaching agreement on both the monetary and non-monetary terms being satisfactory to the Company. If non-monetary terms (which are substantial and important to the Company’s decision to settle) cannot be reached, the Company is prepared to litigate the matter and, as stated above, the Company believes it can defeat the legal claims brought by the plaintiffs. On July 6, 2020, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 464A (“UFCW”), acting on behalf of itself and a putative class of persons who purchased shares of PPC stock between February 9, 2017 and June 3, 2020, filed a class action complaint in the Colorado Court against PPC, and Messrs. Lovette, Penn, and Sandri. The complaint alleges, among other things, that PPC’s public statements regarding its business and the drivers behind its financial results were false and misleading due to the defendants’ purported failure to disclose its participation in an antitrust conspiracy as alleged in the Broiler litigation and the Indictment (defined below). On September 4, 2020, UFCW and the New Mexico State Investment Council (“NMSIC”) filed competing motions to be appointed lead plaintiff under the Private Litigation Securities Reform Act. On March 17, 2021, the court appointed NMSIC as lead plaintiff. The deadline for filing or designation of the operative complaint is May 26, 2021, and any motions to dismiss that complaint must be fully briefed by September 30, 2021. PPC believes it has strong defenses in the pending litigations described above and intends to contest them vigorously. PPC cannot predict the outcome of these pending litigations nor when they will be resolved. The consequences of the pending litigation matters are inherently uncertain, and adverse actions, judgments or settlements in some or all of these matters may result in materially adverse monetary damages, fines, penalties or injunctive relief against PPC. Any claims or litigation, even if fully indemnified or insured, could damage PPC’s reputation and make it more difficult to compete effectively or to obtain adequate insurance in the future. DOJ Antitrust Matter On July 1, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) issued a subpoena to PPC in connection with its investigation arising from the In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation. The Company has been cooperating with the DOJ investigation. On June 3, 2020, PPC learned of an indictment by a Grand Jury in the Colorado Court against Jayson Penn, the chief executive officer and president of PPC at that time, in addition to two former employees of PPC and a former employee of a different company (the “Indictment”). The Indictment alleges that the defendants entered into and engaged in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by rigging bids and fixing prices and other price-related terms for broiler chicken products sold in the U.S., in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 1. On June 4, 2020, PPC learned that Mr. Penn pleaded not guilty to the charges. Effective June 15, 2020, Mr. Penn began a paid leave of absence from PPC. In connection with Mr. Penn’s leave of absence, PPC’s Board of Directors appointed the chief financial officer of PPC, Fabio Sandri, to serve in the additional role of PPC’s interim president and chief executive officer. On September 22, 2020, PPC's Board of Directors appointed Fabio Sandri as PPC's President and Chief Executive Officer in addition to his role as Chief Financial Officer. On September 22, 2020, PPC disclosed that Mr. Penn was no longer with the Company. On February 10, 2021, the Company appointed Matthew Galvanoni as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective March 15, 2021. On October 6, 2020, PPC learned of a superseding indictment by a Grand Jury in the Colorado Court against former Chief Executive Officer of PPC, William Lovette, one additional former employee of PPC, and four employees of different companies. The superseding indictment alleges similar claims to the Indictment. On October 13, 2020, the Company announced that it had entered into a plea agreement (the “Plea Agreement”) with the DOJ pursuant to which the Company agreed to (1) plead guilty to one count of conspiracy in restraint of competition involving sales of broiler chicken products in the U.S. in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, and (2) pay a fine of $110,524,140. The Company recognized the fine as expense which is included in Selling, general and administrative expense in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income for the three months ended September 27, 2020. Under the Plea Agreement, the DOJ agreed not to bring further charges against the Company for any antitrust violation involving the sale of broiler chicken products in the U.S. occurring prior to the date of the Plea Agreement. On February 23, 2021, the Colorado Court approved the Plea Agreement and assessed a fine of $107.9 million. The Company continues to cooperate with the DOJ in connection with the ongoing federal antitrust investigation into alleged price fixing and other anticompetitive conduct in the broiler chicken industry.

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