Cargill agrees to $32 mln settlement in turkey price-fixing lawsuit

By Mike Scarcella

Jan 16 (Reuters) - Meat industry giant Cargill has agreed to pay $32.5 million to settle a class action accusing it of conspiring with rival processors to fix the price of turkey, according to a filing in Chicago federal court.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs submitted the preliminary settlement, which requires approval by U.S. District Judge Sunil Harjani, on Wednesday night.

The agreement resolves claims by direct purchasers of turkey meat including John Gross and Company Inc in Pennsylvania and Maplevale Farms Inc in New York.

The companies sued Cargill and other major meat processors in 2019 for allegedly exchanging competitive information about their operations in a scheme to decrease production while driving up prices. Tyson Foods was the first to settle, agreeing in 2021 to pay $4.62 million.

Cargill and the plaintiffs’ lead attorneys declined to comment. Cargill and Tyson denied any wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

The purchasers said Cargill has agreed to cooperate with them as they pursue related price-fixing claims against other turkey processors, including Butterball, Perdue and Hormel.

That cooperation is expected to include live witnesses at trial, according to the proposed settlement.

Butterball, Perdue and Hormel either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to a request for one.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers estimated a class size of thousands of members, and said the settlement covers purchases that must fall between 2010 and 2017.

The purchasers’ attorneys said they would seek no more than about 33% of the settlement amount in legal fees from the Cargill and Tyson settlements, or about $12.3 million.

The turkey litigation is among several meat industry cases accusing major processors of violating antitrust law. Other pending lawsuits focus on beef and pork sales.

The case is In Re: Turkey Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 1:19-cv-08318.

For direct purchasers: Shana Scarlett of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, and W. Joseph Bruckner of Lockridge Grindal Nauen

For Cargill: Britt Miller and Matthew Provance of Mayer Brown

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