Court Gives Preliminary Approval to $30M Settlement of Dairy Antitrust Claims

A federal court in Vermont has certified a class of 9,000 to 10,000 dairy farmers who allege that Dean Foods Co. and others engaged in anticompetitive conduct and given preliminary approval to a settlement reached in December 2010. Allen v. Dairy Farmers of Am., Inc., No. 09-00230 (D. Vt., order entered May 4, 2011). Under the settlement, Dean Foods does not admit any wrongdoing, but will create a $30 million settlement fund. Its co-defendants have objected to the settlement, but the court determined that they lack standing to oppose preliminary approval of the Dean settlement. The court also noted that they opposed a settlement provision that has been removed. The court denied several motions to intervene and scheduled a final hearing date for July 18, 2011.

The plaintiffs alleged conspiracies to monopolize, fix prices and restrain
trade. Common questions of law and fact included whether the defendants
“conspired to fix, stabilize, maintain and/or artificially lower the over-order
premiums paid to dairy farmers for raw Grade A milk, and whether Defendants
entered into agreements to foreclose those dairy farmers’ access to milk
bottling and processing plants.”