Chicken producer in face-off with insurer over product recall liability

US chicken producer Foster Farms and its London insurers are facing off over the definition of "product recall" as the poultry producer seeks payment of $14.2m (€10.4m) in claims arising from a US government-mandated shutdown of one of its plants, court documents show.

The company in June sued a group of Lloyd’s of London underwriters, arguing the closure and resulting product losses constituted a recall under the terms of the company’s insurance.

Foster Farms, one of the largest chicken producers in the US, has filed an amended complaint, saying three insurance underwriters at Lloyd’s acted improperly when they rejected its claims associated with January production stoppages mandated by regulators.