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Dairy Farmers of America to Pay $46M Price-Fixing Settlement
By Mike Holter
Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) has reached another class action lawsuit settlement over price-fixing allegations. The class action lawsuit, filed in February 2013, accuses the organization of manipulating trading activity on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in 2004 with the sole purpose of driving up the value of dairy products sold in the U.S.
DFA announced on March 22 that it will pay $46 million to settle a portion of the class action lawsuit, including allegations it bought Milk Futures contracts and Cheese Spot call contracts to stimulate demand and encourage higher prices. Prices set in the Cheese Spot market determine the national dairy product price.
This is the second antitrust settlement DFA has reached this year.
In January 2013, DFA agreed to pay $158.6 million to settle a separate price-fixing class action lawsuit accusing DFA, Dean Foods and others of conspiring to fix raw milk prices across the Southeast United States and short-changing dairy farmers. The settlement was in addition to a $145 settlement reached in the same case (In re Southeast Milk Antitrust Litigation) in 2012.
DFA admits no wrongdoing in agreeing to either class action settlement, and said in a statement that “resolution of both of these lawsuits allows us to remove a source of distraction for our leadership and to avoid additional legal fees.”
Details on if the new Dairy Farmers of America price-fixing settlement will result in consumer payouts have not been released yet.
Updated March 27th, 2013
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10 thoughts onDairy Farmers of America to Pay $46M Price-Fixing Settlement
Checks in the mail for dairy farmers
Just a note:
Back in the 1930’s our government was paying the farmers to pour milk into the sewers to keep the price up.
Guess this law firm doesn’t believe in sharing…
This pertains only those that belong to the class of Dairy Farmers. It is not open to the general consumer.
1st time i ever seen this class action for the milk
this should be a laugh, considering, lets say half (155 million people) drink milk.
Today is April 1, 2013 and I don’t think I saw this one before. Please advise.
Send info and a claim form thanks.
Not true, that was for the first one, this is the second filing.
The deadline to send a claim has passed, March 20, 2013
This being posted today 3-27-13 is too late