Southeast Dairy Farmers Raw Milk Class Action Settlement

U.S. dairy farmers in the Southeast have until May 1 to participate in a class action lawsuit settlement against multiple companies said to have underpaid on the purchase of raw Grade A milk.

The Southeast dairy class action antitrust settlement will pay $145 million in refunds to eligible dairy farmers who were underpaid for raw Grade A milk from the following companies: Dean Foods Co., National Dairy Holdings LP, Dairy Farmers of America Inc., Dairy Marketing Services LLC, Mid-Am Capital LLC, Southern Marketing Agency Inc., James Baird, Gary Hanman and Gerald Bos, Dairy.com Inc., The Kroger Co., Prairie Farms Dairy Inc., Robert W. Allen, Jay Bryant, Herman Brubaker, Gregg L. Engles, Michael J. McCloskey, Allen A. Meyer and Pete Schenkel.

The Southeast dairy farmer milk settlement will resolve a class action antitrust lawsuit claiming the Defendants and co-conspirators listed above violated federal antitrust laws and, as a result, prices paid to dairy farmers in Federal Milk Market Orders 5 and 7 (the “Southeast”) were lower than they otherwise would have been.

The Defendants deny any wrongdoing, but have agreed to a $145 million class action lawsuit settlement to end the litigation.

Class Members of the Southeast dairy farmer class action settlement include all dairy farmers – whether individuals, entities or members of cooperatives – who produced raw Grade A milk in Order 5 or in Order 7 and sold that milk directly or through an agent to Defendants or alleged co-conspirators at any time from January 1, 2001 through the present. Further details about which subclass you may fall under can be found at www.SoutheastDairyClass.com.

Class Members who submit a valid claim form by the deadline of May 1, 2012 will receive a share of the Southeast dairy farmer raw milk settlement, the amount of which will be determined by the amount of raw Grade A milk they produced and sold during the class period; the number of claims received; and the fees, costs and expenses approved by the Court. Therefore, the amount of money you will receive from the class action lawsuit settlement cannot be calculated at this time, but it could be in the thousands of dollars. For example, if 7,000 dairy farmers file claims, the average payment per farmer is estimated to be $13,000. Your payment could be more or less than that, depending on the factors above.

Claim forms and more information on your rights in the Southeast Dairy Farmers Raw Grade A Milk Class Action Lawsuit Settlement can be found at www.SoutheastDairyClass.com.