Smithfield Wins Approval of $75 Million Price-Fixing Deal (1)

Smithfield Foods Inc. won court approval for a settlement that calls for the food company to pay $75 million to consumers following claims that it participated in an industry-wide pork price-fixing scheme.

The settlement ends litigation brought by a group of consumer plaintiffs who alleged that Smithfield Foods and other pork companies coordinated prices by limiting the US pork supply and obtaining secret business information from data-sharing service Agri Stats Inc.

Judge John R. Tunheim of the US District Court for the District of Minnesota, who issued the approval, also awarded $24.9 million in attorneys’ fees for the plaintiff’s co-lead ...