Shana E. Scarlett

Antitrust

When most lawyers head to a hearing, they hope to convince the judge. Scarlett and her colleagues also try to convince their rideshare or taxi driver on the way to the hearing.

Scarlett primarily represents ordinary consumers in class actions. “Those are the ones that always end up paying the overcharge in really concentrated markets,” she said.

On the way to argue the class certification motion in the class action accusing poultry companies of fixing the prices of broiler chickens, she showed her driver that he is one of the consumers she represents. He got so excited that he vowed to submit a claim immediately.

“I find it gratifying not only to represent the little guy against big companies, but also to get the little guy really excited about what we’re doing and that there are people out there fighting for them,” she said. “It’s a wonderful career.”

She also convinced the judge, who certified three classes about two and a half weeks later. In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, 1:16-cv- 08637 (N.D. Ill., filed Sept. 2, 2016).

Scarlett — who has been a vegetarian since age 15 — also represents consumers in pork and beef class actions and direct purchasers of wholesale turkeys in another class action.

“Now with inflation, I think more than ever we understand the impact that [the alleged price-fixing] has … on the American consumer’s wallet,” she said.

She taps loyalty programs’ contacts for various supermarkets to reach those consumers. Then, she makes the claims process “accessible to the average person so that they can understand the strength and power of class action.”

Scarlett is also suing chicken producers on behalf of their slaughterhouse workers for conspiring to suppress wages. “To me, it is one of the most righteous cases that we have. … It strikes right at the heart of the struggles that this country is going through,” she said. Jien v. Perdue Farms Inc., 1:19-cv-2521, (D.C. Md., filed Aug. 30, 2019).

The case has been aided by a cooperating defendant who accepted a zero-dollar settlement in exchange for information about the meetings the producers held to compare pay scales.

– Don DeBenedictis