US judge rules beef purchasers can pursue price-fixing class actions

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge has granted class action status to lawsuits by consumers and other beef buyers seeking billions of dollars in damages from the nation's largest meatpackers for allegedly conspiring to inflate prices.

Minnesota-based U.S. District Judge John Tunheim on Thursday certified class actions that include grocers, wholesalers, restaurants, caterers and consumers.

The lawsuits accuse Cargill, JBS, National Beef and Tyson Foods TSN.N of coordinating to restrict beef supplies and push up prices between 2014 and 2020. The defendants account for more than 80% of the beef sold in the United States.

The defendants have denied any wrongdoing. They did not immediately respond to requests for comment or declined to comment.

The judge declined to certify so-called injunctive relief classes covering demands that the companies change their business practices.

Economic experts for the plaintiffs estimated damages of $13.79 billion for the group that bought beef directly from the packers, made up of thousands of businesses, according to court filings.

Damages for the restaurant and food-service group were estimated at $1.89 billion. The plaintiffs’ experts estimated more than $1.94 billion in damages for the consumer class, which would include millions of individuals.

Tunheim appointed law firms to lead the class actions, including Hagens Berman and Lockridge Grindal for the consumer group.

The judge in a related order denied or limited class actions from groups of plaintiffs that either directly or indirectly sell cattle to the meat companies.

The litigation began in 2019 alongside a broader series of meat industry cases targeting producers of turkey, pork and chicken.

Some of the defendants in the beef litigation have already settled certain claims. In January, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods said it would pay $82.5 million to settle proposed class-action claims brought by grocers and other businesses.

Tyson, the largest U.S. meat company, settled related price-fixing claims from consumers in the beef litigation for $55 million, and Cargill settled those claims for $32.5 million.

Read more:

Tyson Foods settles US beef price-fixing lawsuit for $82.5 million

Tyson, Cargill to pay $88 million to consumers in beef price-fixing lawsuit

JBS to pay $83.5 million in latest beef price-fixing settlement

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)