Pork Price-Fixing MDL: Federal Judge Clears Way for Class Notice in Indirect Purchaser Settlement with Tyson Foods

Judge John R. Tunheim of the District of Minnesota granted preliminary approval on April 24 to the settlement between Tyson Foods, Inc., Tyson Prepared Foods, Inc., and Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. and the Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs — a class that includes restaurants, bakeries, and similar businesses that bought pork not directly from producers but further down the supply chain. The case, Civil No. 18-1776, has been pending since 2018 as part of a multidistrict antitrust litigation.

The underlying claim is that pork producers coordinated to suppress supply and inflate prices, injuring buyers throughout the distribution chain. The commercial and institutional plaintiffs — indirect purchasers such as Sandee's Bakery, Edley's Restaurant Group, Longhorn's Steakhouse, and others — faced a threshold legal hurdle that direct purchasers do not: under the Supreme Court's Illinois Brick doctrine, indirect purchasers ordinarily lack standing to sue for antitrust damages in federal court. Their claims survive here because the certified classes are limited to purchases in so-called repealer jurisdictions — states that have enacted laws restoring the right to sue despite the Illinois Brick bar.

One notable feature of the settlement class is the addition of Illinois as a repealer jurisdiction, a change from the class definition the court certified in its March 29, 2023 order. The court concluded there is a valid basis under Illinois law for that addition, citing 740 Ill. Comp. Stat. 10/7, and preliminarily certified the expanded classes for settlement purposes.

Tunheim found the settlement agreement was negotiated at arm's length by experienced counsel and raises no obvious reasons to doubt its fairness, though the determination is preliminary. A final fairness hearing will follow after notice is disseminated to class members, who will have the opportunity to object or request to appear. If final approval is not granted, the settlement and all related proceedings will be vacated and treated as null and void, with the parties' rights restored. The court also stayed the litigation against the Tyson defendants except to the extent necessary to carry out the settlement. Larson King, LLP and Cuneo Gilbert Flannery & LaDuca, LLP serve as Co-Lead Class Counsel for the CIIPP classes.