Dairy Farmers Must Face Partial Challenge to Dean Foods Rescue

Dairy Farmers of America Inc., the U.S.'s top milk producer, must face an antitrust lawsuit partly challenging its regulator-approved $433 million acquisition of bankrupt Dean Foods Co., the country’s largest milk processor, a North Carolina federal judge ruled Friday.

The defenses DFA raised “are more suited for evaluation on a better developed factual record,” Judge Catherine C. Eagles wrote, saying her denial of the motion to dismiss the case was “without prejudice to a motion for summary judgment.”

The suit narrowly targets several Dean plants in North and South Carolina, saying the harm caused by the merger “will be ...