Tyson, Perdue Deals Get First Court Nod in Farmer Antitrust Case

The chicken farmers leading multidistrict litigation over an alleged industrywide scheme to drive down their pay won preliminary approval from a federal judge in Oklahoma for a $21 million settlement with Tyson Foods Inc. and a $14.75 million deal with Perdue Farms LLC.

Judge Robert J. Shelby signed off tentatively Tuesday on the agreements, the first by any of the poultry processors facing proposed class action antitrust claims in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Both companies continue to maintain that they did nothing wrong.

“The settlement resulted from arm’s-length negotiations between highly experienced counsel and ...