Tyson Foods agrees to $48 million settlement with pork purchasers in price fixing case
Tyson Foods reached a preliminary $48 million settlement with pork purchasers in a class-action lawsuit alleging price fixing.Summary
Tyson Foods Inc. has agreed to a preliminary $48 million settlement with commercial and industrial purchasers in a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of pork price-fixing. This settlement is part of a larger ongoing lawsuit involving multiple protein companies and represents an excellent result for the certified classes, according to attorneys for the purchasers. The funds will be available to class members sooner than if the case proceeded to trial.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 2018, alleges that Tyson and other meat producers conspired to manipulate pork prices from 2009 to 2018 by using a data company called Agri Stats to share sensitive information about pricing, capacity, and sales. This allowed competitors to compare performance and potentially coordinate pricing strategies.
This settlement brings the total monetary relief in the case to over $114 million, with previous settlements reached with JBS Foods, Smithfield Foods, and others. Tyson Foods has also recently settled similar price-fixing claims related to beef for a combined $137.5 million, and a separate $85 million settlement with consumers in the pork case was reached in October.
(Source：Arkansas Online)