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Judge Considers $30M Dairy Antitrust Settlement
Court Watch |
2011/04/18 09:51
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A federal judge in Vermont is considering moving forward with a partial settlement of an anti-trust lawsuit in which national dairy processor Dean Foods would pay some northeast dairy farmers $30 million.
But U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss said Friday she may defer a decision on part of the settlement that would require Dean Foods of Dallas to change its milk-buying practices in the region for 30 months by buying milk from independent farmers, a controversial provision that the plaintiffs say would jump start competition but a national dairy cooperative says would harm some farmers.
"I am likely to sever the settlement," Reiss told lawyers during a hearing on Friday.
Farmers have complained for years that Dean, the cooperative Dairy Farmers of America and its marketing affiliate Dairy Marketing Services have come to dominate the milk-buying market and have held down prices paid to farmers.
By agreeing to the settlement, Dean Foods does not admit any liability and "continues to maintain that it has not broken any laws," Dean Foods' attorney Paul Friedman said Friday.
It settles a class action lawsuit filed in 2009, which means 5,000 to 10,000 farmers could get a share of the settlement.
During the more than two-hour hearing, both sides urged Reiss to approve the deal, which plaintiff lawyer Kit Pierson said was "reached after extraordinarily difficult negotiations with Dean Foods."
But DFA and DMS, which are also named as co-defendants in the class-action lawsuit but are opposed to the settlement, said the provision in which Dean Foods would get 10 to 20 percent of the raw milk it buys for plants in Lynn and Franklin, Mass., and in East Greenbush, N.Y., from sources other than DMS for 30 months takes business away from their farmers and gives it to someone else.
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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