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Judge Allows Beef Price-Fixing Class Action to Move Toward Trial

By  |  July 27, 2026
Beef packers

A federal judge has certified multiple class-action claims in a long-running antitrust lawsuit accusing the nation’s four largest beef packers of conspiring to manipulate cattle and beef prices, allowing thousands of cattle producers, commercial buyers and consumers to pursue their claims as the case moves closer to trial.

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    The ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota allows ranchers who sold fed cattle directly to the companies between June 1, 2015, and Feb. 29, 2020, to proceed as a certified class. The court also approved three damages classes covering a broad range of beef purchasers, from large commercial buyers to individual consumers.

    The lawsuit targets Cargill, JBS, National Beef and Tyson Foods, which together account for more than 80% of the U.S. market for fed cattle processing, according to court filings.

    Plaintiffs allege the companies coordinated production and slaughter levels to suppress the prices paid to cattle producers while driving up beef prices for buyers. The companies deny the allegations.

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    Related: US Judge Clears Path for Broad Beef Antitrust Class Actions Against Major Meatpackers

    According to the complaint, the packers intentionally reduced cattle purchases and slaughter capacity, coordinated market activity and allowed cattle backlogs to build at feedlots, pressuring producers to accept lower prices. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Packers and Stockyards Act and the Commodity Exchange Act.

    The court relied in part on testimony from plaintiffs’ economic expert, who concluded fed cattle prices were suppressed by an estimated 6.7% during the proposed class period. The defendants challenged the expert’s methodology, but the judge rejected those arguments for purposes of class certification.

    The judge declined to certify four other proposed classes but said the certified groups met the legal requirements to proceed collectively.

    The litigation stems from a series of lawsuits first filed in 2019 and later consolidated in federal court. Class certification does not determine whether the companies violated antitrust laws but allows the plaintiffs to pursue their claims together rather than through individual lawsuits. The case will now proceed through additional pretrial proceedings and, unless resolved through settlement, trial.

    Several related beef antitrust cases have already resulted in settlements involving some purchasers, although the companies have continued to deny wrongdoing in many of the claims. Other litigation involving different groups of plaintiffs remains pending.

    Source: DTNPF