Pork Antitrust Attorneys Get $34 Million From Price-Fixing Deals

Counsel for the pork wholesalers leading antitrust litigation over an alleged industrywide price-fixing scheme took home $34 million in legal fees after winning the approval of a federal judge in Minneapolis for settlements worth $102 million with JBS SA and Smithfield Foods Inc.

Judge John R. Tunheim granted the fee award July 22, noting that the $77 million agreement with Smithfield and $24.5 million deal with JBS “are coupled with meaningful cooperation” against the meatpackers still facing the case in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota.

In addition to Smithfield and JBS, the consolidated lawsuit targets affiliates ...