Peanut Price-Fixing Settlements Worth $58 Million Get Early Nod

The peanut farmers leading a proposed price-fixing class action against the top U.S. shelling companies won preliminary approval from a Virginia federal judge for settlements worth nearly $58 million that leave an Archer Daniels Midland Co. subsidiary as the sole remaining defendant.

Judge Raymond A. Jackson gave his tentative blessing to a $50 million agreement with Birdsong Corp. and a $7.75 million deal with an Olam International Ltd. unit, saying they appeared “fair, reasonable, and adequate.” The twin orders came three weeks after he certified the case as a class action.

The antitrust lawsuit, filed last year in the ...