Tyson’s $99 Million Price-Fixing Deal Gets Early Nod From Judge

The consumers leading a proposed class action over an alleged industrywide scheme to fix broiler chicken prices won preliminary approval from a federal judge in Chicago for a $104 million settlement with Tyson Foods Inc. and three other poultry processors.

Judge Thomas M. Durkin gave his early blessing Monday to the agreement, which includes a $99 million payment by Tyson and a cooperation pledge from all four companies. The “icebreaker” deal is the first between the consumers and any of the agribusinesses targeted by their antitrust claims.

The settlement, originally disclosed March 1 in the U.S. District Court for the ...