Smithfield’s $42 Million Pork Antitrust Deal Gets Court Approval

Smithfield Foods Inc. stepped closer to exiting antitrust litigation over an alleged industrywide scheme to fix pork prices, when a federal judge in Minneapolis approved its $42 million settlement with restaurants and caterers, the second of three agreements worth $200 million in total.

Judge John R. Tunheim signed off Wednesday on the deal resolving class action claims brought against Smithfield on behalf of “institutional indirect purchasers” in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota. The judge also handed $13.3 million in legal fees to counsel for the restaurants.

The brief ruling came about three weeks after Smithfield announced ...