04/09/25 | $3.375M Settlement Granted Preliminary Approval with Cooper Farms & Farbest Foods
On April 9, 2025, the court granted preliminary approval of the $3.375 million settlement with defendants Cooper Farms and Farbest Foods. If all pending settlements are granted approval, total recovery in the case for the direct purchaser class would total $40.495 million. Litigation continues against the remaining defendants.
Direct purchasers of turkey products may have paid too much due to an alleged illegal price-increasing scheme by food corporations.
- RELATED DOCUMENTS
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- Order Preliminarily Approving Settlement with Cooper Farms, Farbest Foods 04/09/25
- Motion for Preliminary Approval of Settlements – Cooper Farms, Farbest Foods 03/25/25
- Order Granting Motion for Class Certification 01/22/25
- Motion for Preliminary Approval of Settlement – Cargill 01/15/25
- Order Preliminarily Approving Settlement with Tyson 05/25/21
- Order Denying Motion to Dismiss 10/19/20
- Complaint 12/19/19
According to the lawsuit, for years, major food corporations illegally increased the price of turkey, forcing U.S. direct purchasers, including grocery stores, to pay artificially high prices for ground turkey, turkey breast and whole bird turkey products.
According to the firm’s research, processors involved in the price-fixing conspiracy include: Butterball, Jennie-O (Hormel), Cargill, Farbest Foods, Tyson (Sara Lee/Hillshire), Perdue Farms, Prestage, Cooper Farms, House of Raeford, Foster Farms, and co-conspirators Dakota Provisions, Kraft (Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich), Michigan Turkey, Norbest and West Liberty, which own the following popular brands, among others:
- Applegate Farms
- Butterball
- Carolina Turkey
- Honeysuckle
- Hillshire Farms
- Jennie-O
- Norbest
- Sara Lee
- Shady Brook Farms
- Foster Farms
- SETTLEMENT FIGURES TO DATE
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The court has granted preliminary or approval to the following settlements.
Defendant Status Settlement Amount Cargill Granted Preliminary Approval $32.5 million Tyson Granted Preliminary Approval $4.62 million Cooper Farms Granted Preliminary Approval $1.68 million Farbest Foods Granted Preliminary Approval $1.68 million TOTAL $40.495 million
The deadline to submit a claim for the Cargill, Tyson, Cooper Farms and Farbest Foods settlements has passed. Class members can still sign up for notice of future settlements through the settlement administrator. For questions or more information about how to file a claim or ask to be excluded, visit www.TurkeyLitigation.com or call toll-free 1-877-777-9637.
ABOUT THE ALLEGED CONSPIRACY
According to the lawsuit, since at least 2010, turkey producers such as Tyson, Hormel and others colluded to knowingly stabilize turkey production to artificially inflate prices. The turkey producers allegedly engaged in a conspiracy that has cost American direct-purchasers millions of dollars over the years.
The turkey industry rakes in $4 billion dollars a year, and the companies involved in this investigation control the vast majority of the market. Hagens Berman believes that this is a classic conspiracy meant to extract extra profits from purchasers.
CASE TIMELINE
On March 25, 2025, Hagens Berman filed a motion for preliminary approval of a $3.375 million settlement with defendants Cooper Farms and Farbest Foods. If granted final approval by the court, each defendant would pay $1,687,500 into the settlement fund.
On Jan. 30, 2025, the Hon. Sunil R. Harjani of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted preliminary approval to an icebreaker settlement with Cargill for $32.5 million. The final approval hearing is scheduled for June 18, 2025. Litigation is ongoing against remaining defendants.
On Jan. 22, 2025, U.S. District Judge Sunil R. Harjani of the Northern District of Illinois granted class certification to the direct purchaser class and appointed Hagens Berman co-lead class counsel.
In response, Steve Berman, managing partner and founder of Hagens Berman, released the following statement: “We’re pleased with the court’s decision and see this as continued testament — alongside Hagens Berman’s tandem litigation affecting red meat and chicken — that class-action law has the power to improve the day-to-day lives of millions of people.”
On May 24, 2021, Tyson became the first defendant to settle in this price-fixing litigation, resulting in $4.62 million for direct purchasers of turkey. Attorneys look forward to continuing the case against the remaining defendants and bringing additional relief to plaintiffs.
On Oct. 19, 2020, the district court in the Northern District of Illinois denied the motions to dismiss in this antitrust case.
A federal judge issued an opinion and order largely allowing claims against the nation’s largest suppliers of turkey and Agri Stats to continue, stating, “…Plaintiffs have alleged enough to plausibly suggest the existence of a hub-and-spoke conspiracy among the Turkey Defendants to exchange competitively sensitive information with one another through Agri Stats,” adding that the plaintiffs also adequately allege an anti-competitive effect which harmed consumers.
