MIAMI – A Florida seafood wholesaler is suing a group of purchasers of stone crabs and spiny lobsters, alleging they illegally conspired to suppress the price of the crabs and lobsters since 2018.
Plaintiff The Gourmet Crab Inc. filed its lawsuit October 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The named defendants include D&D Seafood Corporation, BSC Fisheries LLC, Billy’s Stone Crab Inc., Brian C. Hershey, Dennis Dopico, Mario Robin Dopico, and George Teruel.
According to the 35-page filing, since 2011 the plaintiff has been purchasing spiny lobsters and stone crabs from numerous fishermen as they arrived at its dock in Islamorada, Fla.
The plaintiff claims that In recent decades, the stone crab and spiny lobster fisheries have become the most important industry for Florida Keys area commercial fishermen, fish houses and the families and communities that depend on them.
“In the mid-2000s, the prices paid by Defendants and other buyers to Plaintiff for its stone crab and spiny lobsters – what is referred to in the fishing industry and herein as the ‘ex-vessel price,’ which means the price off the boat – started to climb as increased demand for lobsters in Asia and stone crab domestically and elsewhere translated into higher ex-vessel prices,” the complaint states.
The Gourmet Crab alleges the defendants, in advance of the 2018-19 stone crab season and continuing through the 2024-25 season, formed a “cartel” of Florida Keys-area stone crab buyers.
The purpose and effect of the cartel, it alleges, was to drive down the ex-vessel price of stone crabs in the Keys area, so that the defendants could earn higher profits.
“... So they were able to make even more money than the fish house and the fishermen, all doing the hard work,” the filing states.
The pricing cartel, The Gourmet Crab alleges, "artificially fixed, depressed, and controlled” the ex-vessel price paid to the plaintiff.
The lawsuit contends the defendants’ acts and “meeting of the minds” constituted a violation of the anti-trust laws under the Sherman Act, for price fixing.
The Gourmet Crab seeks three times the amount of damages sustained by it and allowed by law; attorneys’ fees and costs; pre-judgment and post-judgment interest “at the highest legal rate;” and a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants’ exclusionary agreements and conduct.
Coral Gables, Fla., attorney Andre A. Rouviere and Tavernier, Fla., attorney William M. Norris PA are representing the plaintiff in the case.
