ADM Sidesteps Antitrust Case Over Ethanol Futures Rigging Claims

Archer Daniels Midland Co. tentatively dodged antitrust litigation over its alleged scheme to manipulate the price of ethanol-based financial derivatives, when a federal judge in Illinois ruled that the ethanol producer leading the case failed to show it was “knocked out of the market.”

Judge Colin S. Bruce dismissed the proposed class action without prejudice from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, setting an Aug. 30 deadline for it to be refiled. The lawsuit’s predatory pricing claims came up short in several respects, Bruce found Monday.

He acknowledged that parts of the suit’s monopolization theory are ...