SEATTLE — Over 400,000 Washington households are set to receive financial restitution totaling $40.6 million following the settlement of Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s antitrust lawsuit against tuna and chicken producers for price fixing.

According to a press release from Ferguson’s office, 15% of the state of Washington — the equivalent of 1.2 million Washingtonians — will receive checks in the mail. Checks will be dispersed to households whose income is at or below 175% of the federal poverty level, with single-person households receiving $50 and multiple-person households receiving $120.

“Washington families were cheated by corporate price-fixing conspiracies they knew nothing about — and now those who felt this gouging most severely are receiving checks from my office,” Ferguson said.

Through a 2021 price fixing lawsuit, Ferguson’s office received $35.5 million as a result of resolutions with 15 of 19 broiler chicken producers named in the case. The 19 producers represent 95% of the US broiler chicken market.

According to the allegations against the companies, the producers drove up the price of chicken since 2008 through a conspiracy to inflate and manipulate the market.

A trial against the three remaining producers — Foster Farms, Wayne-Sanderson Farms and House of Raeford Farms — is scheduled for October 2024.

Funds for the restitution checks also come from cases against major tuna companies, contributing over $5.1 million. The cases include a $4.1 million resolution with StarKist, a $500,000 resolution with Chicken of the Sea, a $100,000 resolution with former Bumble Bee Tuna chief executive officer Christopher Lischewski and $450,000 in sanctions against Dongwon, the parent company of StarKist.

According to Feguson’s allegations, the companies exchanged internal company policies and data.

“Lischewski complained to other tuna executives before they began the price-fixing scheme that canned tuna was ‘too cheap’ and he wanted the price artificially increased on consumers,” according to the press release from the Washington’s Attorney General Office. “Two of Lischewski’s subordinates testified that he gave ‘a very clear, direct’ order to fix canned tuna prices.”