Burford and Sysco End Legal Dispute Over Antitrust Claims

Litigation funder Burford Capital and food supplier Sysco Corp. have ended their litigation and arbitration today and Sysco has assigned all of its claims in its chicken antitrust lawsuits to an affiliate of Burford, Carina Ventures LLC.

Both Sysco and Burford dismissed all claims with prejudice, according to court filings. Neither party provided comment.

Sysco removed itself from the docket jointly with Burford in its antitrust litigation with poultry producers and substituted with Carina, which is now a real party in the interest.

Sysco, which received a $140 million loan from Burford to pursue antitrust claims against pork and poultry producers, sued the funder and alleged that Burford blocked settlements in at least two of its cases with the producers. The food supplier’s legal battle with Burford attracted attention to the typically opaque litigation finance industry, and its detractors characterized as an example of litigation funders interfering in litigation.

Burford obtained a New York arbitration award stopping Sysco from finalizing settlements in the price-fixing lawsuits, which the funder said are “too low.” Sysco previously agreed to give Burford veto authority over the settlement talks—power that Burford says it normally doesn’t have—after Sysco violated the funding deal by assigning some of its legal claims against the processors to customers.

The case is: Sysco Corp. v. Glaz LLC, N.D. Ill., No. 23-1451, dismissal 6/28/23.