Tyson, other pork producers to pay $64 million in new price-fixing settlements
April 23 (Reuters) - Tyson Foods (TSN.N), opens new tab and two other pork processors have agreed to pay $64 million to resolve a lawsuit claiming they conspired to fix prices for food services providers, in an agreement that pushes total settlements in the case to more than $180 million.
The pork buyers' attorneys on Tuesday in a court filing asked U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minnesota to preliminarily approve the three new settlements in the class action.
Tyson agreed to pay $50 million to exit the long-running antitrust litigation. The other settling defendants are Clemens Food, which is paying $10 million, and Triumph Foods, which settled for $4 million.
Tyson and the other companies denied any wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. The companies and plaintiffs said the settlements will avoid the risk and expense of continuing litigation.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs declined to comment, and Tyson, Clemens and Triumph did not immediately respond to requests for one.
The pork lawsuit, accusing Tyson and other companies of illegal price-fixing, was filed in 2018. Tunheim has overseen related cases from consumers and other buyers.
The class members in the new settlements include companies that directly purchased pork products from Tyson and other defendants from 2014 to 2018. Some of the buyers include Maplevale Farms, Ferraro Foods and Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative.
In a court filing, the plaintiffs' lawyers said the settlements will provide 'significant and substantial relief.' They will ask for up to about $26 million in fees, or 33%, from a settlement pool of about $78 million, which includes some other prior deals.
The purchasers' lawsuit is proceeding against one non-settling defendant, Indiana-based consulting firm Agri Stats.
The plaintiffs have alleged pork producers exchanged competitively sensitive, non-public information through Agri Stats, allowing them to communicate with each other and maintain the price-fixing conspiracy.
Agri Stats has denied the plaintiffs' claims. The company separately is battling an antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department.
The pork lawsuits are part of a broader set of cases accusing beef, turkey and chicken producers of fixing prices in their markets. The litigation has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.
The case is In re Pork Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, No. 0:18-cv-01776-JRT-JFD.
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