Pork consumers' $75 million price-fixing accord with Smithfield approved

WH

12/04/2023 17:50

By Mike Scarcella
       April 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday approved a
$75 million settlement between Smithfield Foods Inc and a class
of consumers who accused the pork producer of conspiring to
restrict supply in order to keep prices artificially high.
    U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minneapolis called the
resolution "fair, reasonable, and adequate" in his order
approving the deal.
    "The settlement class members' positive reaction supports
final approval," Tunheim wrote. The judge said that out of
millions of potential class members only "three have opted out,
and none have objected."
    The orders were the latest in long-running litigation over
allegedly inflated prices in the $20 billion annual pork market.
Other meat industry antitrust cases have been filed over beef,
turkey and chicken prices.
    Smithfield previously agreed to pay $83 million to resolve
claims from "direct" purchasers, including Maplevale Farms Inc
in New York and Pennsylvania-based John Gross & Company Inc, and
$42 million with restaurant and other commercial purchasers.
Pork consumers last year settled with Smithfield rival JBS SA
for $20 million.
    A spokesperson for Smithfield and an attorney for the
company at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher on Wednesday did not
immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
    Virginia-based Smithfield, a unit of Hong Kong-listed WH
Group Ltd (0288.HK), has denied any wrongdoing.
    As part of the settlements, Smithfield and JBS agreed to
cooperate in the consumers' claims against six other
non-settling defendants including Hormel Foods Corp  HRL.N  and
Tyson Foods Inc  TSN.N .
    A Tyson spokesperson declined to comment on Wednesday, and a
representative from Hormel did not immediately respond to
messages seeking comment. Both also have denied the price-fixing
allegations.
    The judge in a separate order on Tuesday awarded nearly $25
million in legal fees to the plaintiffs firms representing the
consumer class. Lawyers from plaintiffs' firms Hagens Berman
Sobol Shapiro and Gustafson Gluek, the court-appointed consumer
class counsel, did not immediately respond to messages seeking
comment.
    The consumer class attorneys said in a court filing in
January that they'd spent more than 37,000 hours pursuing
antitrust claims over four years.
    
    The case is In re Pork Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District
Court, District of Minnesota, No. 18-01776.
    For the consumer class: Shana Scarlett of Hagens Berman
Sobol Shapiro, and Daniel Gustafson of Gustafson Gluek
    For Smithfield: Joshua Lipton of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher,
and Brian Robinson of Brown Fox
    
    Read more:
    Litigation funder Burford sues Sysco over $140 mln antitrust
investment
    Turkey producers lose bid to toss antitrust case
    Chicken price-fixing litigation yields $57.4 mln in fees for
plaintiffs' firms
    Plaintiffs' lawyers in pork price-fixing case get $34 mln in
legal fees

 (Reporting by Mike Scarcella; editing by Leigh Jones)
 ((Mike.Scarcella@thomsonreuters.com;))