US: Settlement reached in northeast dairy antitrust case

A federal judge on Tuesday approved a $50 million settlement to be paid by a national dairy marketing cooperative to thousands of Northeast dairy farmers.

Dairy Farmers of America will pay an average of $4,000 to about 8,860 farms to settle a lawsuit that accused the marketing group of trying to drive down milk prices.

The 2009 class-action lawsuit charged Dairy Farmers of America; its marketing arm, Dairy Marketing Services; and Dallas-based Dean Foods with working together to monopolize the market for raw milk in the Northeast.

Dean Foods agreed to a separate $30 million settlement in 2011.

The deals cover farmers in Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

The settlement approved Tuesday offers farmers “a modest recovery,” but the $80 million total for the two deals “is not insubstantial when viewed against the backdrop of the risks of continued litigation,” US District Court Judge Christina Reiss wrote.

She had rejected a previous settlement proposal primarily due to some farmers’ opposition to it.

Full Content: Concord Monitor

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