Chicken Cartel Attorneys Seek $60 Million Fee Out of Settlements

Two law firms asked a federal judge in Chicago to award them nearly $60 million for their work negotiating consumer antitrust settlements worth $181 million in total with Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., and other poultry processors facing chicken price-fixing claims.

Counsel for the consumers sought the legal fees—as well as reimbursement for nearly $9 million in expenses they fronted—in a motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where the proposed class action is consolidated with claims brought by wholesalers and restaurants.

The attorneys have shouldered “the risks and costs of ...