Premium
State court fraud decision influenced by economics of US peanut industry
Author(s) -
Kamerschen David R.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
agribusiness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1520-6297
pISSN - 0742-4477
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6297(199801/02)14:1<55::aid-agr5>3.0.co;2-k
Subject(s) - state (computer science) , damages , jury , economics , market power , peanut butter , price fixing , agriculture , agricultural economics , business , law , political science , industrial organization , market economy , collusion , ecology , chemistry , food science , algorithm , computer science , biology , monopoly
This paper describes the economics of the peanut industry in the Southeast and Georgia to understand the 1993 trial Golden v. Hunt where the jury awarded a Georgia peanut farmer, Hunt, $260,000 in damages for fraudulent behavior by the largest peanut buyer in the market, Golden Peanut Company, in the sale of his 1990 peanut crop. While this case was not a federal or state antitrust case, the issue of market power was relevant to determine the potential to practice frauds and tortious interference successfully. It would appear that the viability of contract markets for agricultural products depends on the ability to enforce those contracts at the level where this case was adjudicated. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.