An opinion was issued on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce in a case brought by plaintiffs United Wisconsin Grain Producers LLC, Didion Ethanol, LLC, Ace Ethanol, LLC, Fox River Valley Ethanol, LLC, Badger State Ethanol, LLC, and PLCP, LLLP against defendant Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM).
The initial complaint, filed in the Central District of Illinois, alleged that the defendant had violated Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act when they engaged in misconduct surrounding the ethanol market in Argo, Illinois.
The plaintiffs contend that the defendant engaged in unlawful conduct intentionally to depress ethanol prices in Argo, Illinois, or the Argo Terminal. ADM allegedly sold ethanol at prices lower than the cost of producing or obtaining the ethanol, sold ethanol even when they did not have the physical ethanol to fulfill the sales, and lowered its prices tremendously in an effort to make up 90 or even 100 percent of the sales in a given period. These practices led to ADM controlling seventy percent of the overall Argo Terminal Market.
The plaintiffs also claim that ADM’s operations were funded through outsized short positions in ethanol. Through their alleged misconduct, ADM was able to create “substantial gains on its short positions in Chicago Ethanol Derivatives, sufficient to compensate ADM for its sales losses incurred at Argo, with profit to spare.”
Following the initial complaint, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss which was later granted by the court. ADM also filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s amended complaint, citing that the amended complaint failed to state a claim and did not properly allege that ADM’s conduct led other ethanol producers to exit the market.
The amended complaint cites violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act (monopolization and attempted monopolization) and violations of the Illinois Antitrust Act and Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act, as well as tortious interference.
The Court explains that the allegations detailed in the amended complaint are “largely identical” to those allegations detailed in the original complaint. In the opinion, Judge Bruce explains that the plaintiffs failed to make a substantial allegation that the defendant’s actions led to ethanol producers exiting the Argo Terminal Market, specifically stating that “the amended complaint lacks any concrete allegations that any ethanol producer actually stopped selling ethanol in the U.S. market.”
Since the court determined the plaintiffs failed to allege that any producers left the Argo Terminal market, they also “failed to sufficiently plead an antitrust injury, as required to support their claims.” Judge Bruce also explains that the plaintiffs failed to “adequately allege monopoly power, a dangerous probability of achieving monopoly power, or an antitrust injury.”
Ultimately, each of the claims from the amended complaint were dismissed with prejudice, with three exceptions. The plaintiff’s claims for a violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and tortious interference with contract were dismissed without prejudice. Judge Bruce concluded the opinion by stating that the matter was terminated.
The plaintiffs were represented in the litigation by Michael Best & Friedrich and Levin Fishbein Sedran & Berman. Archer Daniels Midland Company was represented by Winston & Strawn.
