Dean Foods Dairy Price-Fixing Settlement Under Attack

According to a news source, a co-defendant in litigation alleging a price-fixing
conspiracy in the northeastern U.S. milk market has filed objections to the
tentative deal reached by Dean Foods Co. and the dairy farmers who filed
the lawsuit. Allen v. Dairy Farmers of Am., No. __ (D. Vt., settlement
reached December 24, 2010). More information about the settlement,
which must be approved by a court, appears in Issue 376 of this Update.
Dairy Marketing Services, LLC and a number of individual dairy farmers have
also apparently opposed the settlement. The objectors contend that the
settlement will result in price erosion for all dairy farmers and creates “both
winners and losers in the class of dairy farmers represented by a single law
firm by taking market access from one group of dairy farmers at the expense
of another within the same class.” They also claim that the small settlement
of about $1,500 per farmer will not make up for the “swift and substantial”
impact on dairy farmers’ wallets. See PR Newswire, January 19, 2011.