Consolidating 27 cases involving 146 parties, Minnesota’s District Court Judge John Tunheim wrote the order and opinion to merge all related pork antitrust cases pending in the District of Minnesota into In re Pork Antitrust Litigation, following the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) issued conditional transfer order.
“The Court will consolidate the cases for all future pretrial proceedings into a single multidistrict litigation (MDL) because the Court concludes that consolidation will best promote efficiency, prevent confusion and unnecessary complication, and prevent duplicative or conflicting decisions,” Tunheim’s order explains.
Consolidation will also allow the parties and the Court to generally file updates and changes in a centralized location, without the need to make minor changes to satisfy different case numbers, as well as improve the following of developments using one unified docket, the order adds.
Including companies Hormel Foods Corp; the JBS USA unit of Brazil’s JBS SA; WH Group Ltd’s Smithfield Foods Inc.; Clemens Food Group, LLC; Seaboard Foods LLC; Indiana Packers Corporation; Triumph Foods, LLC; and Tyson Foods Inc., among others, as well as data provider Agri Stats Inc., litigation has been ongoing since 2018.
The order notes, “The purpose of MDL centralization is to ‘eliminate duplicative discovery, avoid inconsistent pretrial rulings, and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel and the judiciary.’”
The defendants, along with the direct purchaser and commercial and institutional indirect purchaser plaintiffs support the consolidation, while the consumer indirect purchase and MDL direct action plaintiffs found fault in the consolidation.
“The Court recognizes that there may be some bumps on the consolidation road, but still concludes it will be the smoothest, most efficient route to resolving this case,” the court documents state.
More on the Price-Fixing Allegations:
Smithfield Foods to Pay $83 Million to Settle Pork Price-Fixing Claims
Ongoing Pork Antitrust Suit Racks Up Bills, Nearly $40 Million to be Paid Out
JBS USA Settles for $20 Million in Pork Price-Fixing Allegations
Smithfield Foods to Pay $75 Million in Pork Price-Fixing Settlement
