A Federal District Court in Minnesota has denied motions by attorneys for four major meatpackers to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit brought against them by R-CALF. R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard says that means the case will now proceed to discovery where his group’s lawyers will argue that the meatpackers allegedly conspired to artificially depress prices and increased the price of beef.

He says there have been several efforts lately to attempt to restore transparency and competitiveness to the cattle markets but R-CALF’s court case is the lead step in those efforts.

Bullard says there’s no doubt that the markets are broken and a huge gap between what producers are getting versus profits enjoyed by packers and costs incurred on consumers.

Bullard says during the discovery phase, R-CALF will be arguing that the big four meatpackers violated the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 by engaging in a price fixing conspiracy. He says they’ll also argue that the packers allegedly violated the Packers and Stockyards Act as well as the Commodity Exchange Act.