Tyson Foods will pay $48 million to settle a price-fixing class-action lawsuit filed by indirect buyers of its pork.
The Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs said the proposed deal with Tyson Foods Inc., Tyson Prepared Foods Inc. and Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. included cash payments and cooperation terms as the case neared trial.
Plaintiffs said Tyson also agreed to help authenticate Tyson documents for use at trial and to provide the settling plaintiffs the same access to potential trial witnesses that Tyson provided to non-settling defendants.
The pork cases alleged major pork producers conspired to constrain supply and fix prices beginning in 2009, including by exchanging competitively sensitive information through Agri Stats benchmarking reports. Plaintiffs said they and other class members paid artificially inflated prices for pork during the class period
The settlement would cover entities that indirectly purchased uncooked pork bacon or raw pork cuts including loins, shoulder, ribs, hams or pork chops for use in commercial food preparation from June 28, 2014, through June 30, 2018.
