February 28, 2024
A Colorado federal judge Tuesday gave initial approval to class settlements with two meat producers and a consulting company, requiring $11.25 million in payments to resolve claims that they participated in a nationwide scheme to fix and depress wages for meat plant workers.
In an order, U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer advanced a deal for Seaboard Foods LLC and its owner Triumph Foods LLC to pay $10 million into a settlement fund and supply the plaintiffs with documents, data, depositions and witnesses to be used as evidence against the remaining defendants.
Perdue Foods LLC has also agreed to cooperate with the plaintiffs and pay $1.25 million to class members, an estimated tens of thousands of workers at meat processing plants across the country.
Tuesday’s order also stayed the proceedings against the companies and a data consulting firm that allegedly helped the meat producers exchange compensation data, Webber Meng Sahl and Co. Inc.
The approvals come as Colorado-based JBS USA decided earlier this month to settle and avoid a trial in the sprawling November 2022 suit, which accused more than a dozen meat processing companies of sharing pay studies and data to fix wages at plants across the country.
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The proposed class is represented by Shana E. Scarlett, Rio S. Pierce, Abby R. Wolf, Steve W. Berman, Elaine Byszewski and Abigail D. Pershing of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, George F. Farah, Rebecca Chang, Nicholas J. Jackson, Martha E. Guarnieri, Simon Wiener and William H. Anderson of Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, Brent W. Johnson, Benjamin D. Brown, Robert A. Braun, Alison S. Deich, Zachary Glubiak, Zachairy I. Krowitz and Nina Jaffe-Geffner of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Brian D. Clark, Stephen J. Teti, Arielle S. Wagner and Eura Chang of Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP, and Candice J. Enders and Julia R. McGrath of Berger Montague PC.
Read $11M Meat Co. Deals Get Early OK In Colo. Wage Fixing Suit.