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US: $158.6M settlement approved for milk collusion five years after case began

By  |  May 21, 2013

The Dairy Farmers of America, which agreed to settle with a class of dairy farmer last January over allegations the group fixed milk prices, has had its offer for a $158.6 million settlement accepted by at US federal judge on Friday. The settlement, approved by US District Judge J. Ronnie Greer in Tennessee, ends a case that began more than five years prior as a class action, filed by dairy farmers in 2007, accused the marketing cooperative of colluding to set milk pries across the Southeast US. Among the claims made by the plaintiffs was that the DFA, along with others, signed exclusivity contracts with Dean Foods Co., which bottles milk. In a separate ruling, a $52.8 million lawyers’ fee was also approved.

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    Full Content: Thomson Reuters

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