If you purchased any Hormel Foods Corporation Pork product in the United States from June 28, 2014, through June 30, 2018, for business use in commercial food preparation, a class action settlement may affect your rights.

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United States District Court for the District of Minnesota

Oct 14, 2024, 09:00 ET

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A Settlement has been reached in a class action antitrust lawsuit filed on behalf of Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs with Hormel Foods Corporation and Hormel Foods, LLC, and related or affiliated entities ("Hormel Foods" or "Settling Defendant"). The Settlement requires Hormel Foods to pay $2,429,000. There will be no payments to the Settlement Classes at this time. You will be notified later of an opportunity to file a Claim Form. Before any money is paid, the Court will hold a hearing to decide whether to approve the Settlement.

The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota authorized this Notice. This Court ordered Notice may affect your rights. Please read this notice carefully.

WHO IS INCLUDED?

For settlement purposes, members of the Settlement Classes are defined as:

Injunctive Class: All entities that indirectly purchased uncooked pork bacon, or one or more of the following types of raw pork, whether fresh or frozen: loins, shoulder, ribs, hams, or pork chops from defendants or co-conspirators for their own use in commercial food preparation in the United States from June 28, 2014 to June 30, 2018. For this lawsuit, pork excludes any product that is marketed as organic and/or antibiotics ever and any product other than bacon that is marinated, seasoned, flavored, or breaded, but it includes uncooked and cooked ham water added products.

Damages Class: All entities that indirectly purchased uncooked pork bacon, or one or more of the following types of raw pork, whether fresh or frozen: loins, shoulder, ribs, hams, or pork chops from defendants or co-conspirators for their own use in commercial food preparation in the Repealer Jurisdictions from June 28, 2014 to June 30, 2018. For this lawsuit, pork excludes any product that is marketed as organic and/or antibiotics ever and any product other than bacon that is marinated, seasoned, flavored, or breaded, but it includes uncooked and cooked ham water added products.

Only Settlement Class members in the following jurisdictions ("Repealer Jurisdictions") are eligible to potentially recover money from the settlement funds: Arkansas, Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and/or Wisconsin. The class period for Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee class members begins June 28, 2015.

For purposes of the Settlement, "Pork" means porcine or swine products processed, produced or sold by Hormel Foods, or by any of the Defendants or their co-conspirators, including but not limited to: primals (including but not limited to loins, shoulders, picnics, butts, ribs, bellies, hams, or legs), trim or sub-primal products (including but not limited to backloins, tenderloins, backribs, boneless loins, boneless sirloins, riblets, chef's prime, prime ribs, brisket, skirt, cushion, ground meats, sirloin tip roast, or hocks), further processed and value added porcine products (including, but not limited to bacon, sausage, lunch meats, further processed ham, or jerky products), offal or variety products (including, but not limited to hearts, tongues, livers, head products, spleens, kidneys, feet, stomach, bladder, uterus, snoot, ears, tail, brisket bone, intestines, jowls, neck bones or other bones, skin, lungs, glands, hair, or pet food ingredients), rendered product and byproducts (including, but not limited to, lard, grease, meat meal, bone meal, blood meal, or blood plasma), casings (including, but not limited to, mucosa), and carcasses.

In addition to Hormel Foods, the Defendants and alleged co-conspirators in this lawsuit are JBS USA Food Company, JBS USA Food Company Holdings, Swift Pork Company, Clemens Food Group, LLC, The Clemens Family Corporation, Seaboard Foods, LLC, Smithfield Foods, Inc., Triumph Foods, LLC, Tyson Foods, Inc., Tyson Prepared Foods, Inc., Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc., and Agri Stats, Inc.

If you are not sure you are included, you can get more information, including a detailed notice, at the Settlement Website, www.PorkCommercialCase.com or by calling toll-free 1-855-867-0738.

WHAT IS THIS LAWSUIT ABOUT?

Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs allege that Defendants and their co-conspirators conspired and combined to fix, raise, maintain, and stabilize the price of Pork products, from at least January 1, 2009, with the intent and expected result of increasing prices of Pork products in the United States, in violation of federal antitrust laws and various state antitrust, consumer protection and unfair trade practices, and unjust enrichment laws. Hormel Foods denies any wrong-doing, and continues to deny the allegations in the Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs' complaint. The Court did not decide which side was right, but both sides agreed to the Settlement to resolve the lawsuit and get benefits to the Settlement Classes. The lawsuit is still proceeding on behalf of the Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs against other Defendants who may be subject to separate settlements, judgments, or class certification related orders. A separate notice was recently sent regarding the progress of the lawsuit.

WHAT DOES THE SETTLEMENT PROVIDE?

The Settlement Agreement provides that Hormel Foods will pay $2,429,000 to resolve all Settlement Class members' legal claims against Hormel Foods for the Released Claims (as defined in the Settlement Agreement). In addition to this monetary benefit, Hormel Foods has also agreed to certain non-monetary relief in the form of a declaration from a records custodian addressing the factual predicates for authentication of documents that the Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs include in an exhibit list for trial. No money will be distributed at this time. Settlement Class Counsel will continue to pursue the lawsuit against the other Defendants. Settlement Class Counsel may request that the Court award attorneys' fees and permit the reimbursement of certain litigation costs and expenses. Settlement Class Counsel will also seek permission to set aside up to eight percent of the Settlement Fund for future litigation expenses to be used in the continuing lawsuits against the non-settling Defendants and will seek service awards for the class representatives. When Settlement Class Counsel's motion for fees, costs, expenses, and service awards is filed, it will be available on the Settlement Website, www.PorkCommercialCase.com. The motion will be posted on the website before the deadline for objecting to the Settlement. Settlement Class Counsel will ask the Court for attorneys' fees based on their services in this lawsuit, not to exceed one third of the Settlement Fund net of any expense reimbursement and class representative service awards, and will ask to be reimbursed for certain expenses already incurred on behalf of the Settlement Class in an amount up to $500,000. All Settlement funds that remain after payment of the Court ordered attorneys' fees, costs, expenses, and service awards will be distributed at the conclusion of the lawsuit or as ordered by the Court. You will be notified later, if and when there is an opportunity to submit a timely and valid Claim Form to receive a payment.

WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS?

You do not need to take any action to remain a member of the Settlement Class and be bound by the Settlement Agreement. As a Settlement Class member, you may be able to participate in any future settlements or judgments obtained by Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Plaintiffs against other Defendants in the case.

If you are in a Repealer Jurisdiction and do not want the Settlement benefits and you do not want to be legally bound by the terms of the Settlement, or if you wish to pursue your own separate lawsuit against Hormel Foods, you must exclude yourself by submitting a written request for exclusion by November 29, 2024. Instructions on how to request exclusion, are found at the Settlement Website, www.PorkCommercialCase.com.

If you do not like something about the Settlement and you have not previously excluded yourself from the Settlement Class, you can object to the Hormel Foods Settlement. Instructions on how to object are found at the Settlement Website, www.PorkCommercialCase.com.

While the Settlement is only with Hormel Foods at this time, the Settlement Class includes purchasers of Pork products (as defined in the Settlement Agreements) from any of the Defendants or their co-conspirators. If you are a member of the Settlement Classes, you may be eligible to participate in any additional settlements which may arise with any other Defendants in the case.

The Court will hold a hearing in this case In re Pork Antitrust Litigation (Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Actions), Case No. 0:18-cv-01776 (D. Minn.) on December 10, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. to consider whether to approve the Settlement Agreement. You may ask to speak at the hearing, but you do not have to.

This notice is a summary only. You can find more details about the Settlement at www.PorkCommercialCase.com or by calling toll-free 1-855-867-0738. Please do not contact the Court.

URL: www.PorkCommercialCase.com

SOURCE United States District Court for the District of Minnesota