El Segundo, California, U.S.A.-based Chicken of the Sea (COSI) and its parent company, Thai Union, have come to an agreement with the direct-purchaser plaintiffs in the long-running canned tuna price-fixing case.
The settlement agreement, which has not yet been approved by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California Judge Janis L. Sammartino, who is presiding over the case, calls for a cap of USD 7 million (EUR 5.9 million) in payments to the direct purchasers and no more than USD 7 million in legal fees.
The settlement motion was filed 31 March and was arrived at with the assistance of a mediator.
“It is in the best interests of direct purchaser plaintiffs and the settlement class to enter into this settlement agreement with COSI to avoid the uncertainties and risks of further litigation,” the plaintiffs wrote in the motion. “The settlement set forth herein is fair, reasonable, adequate and in the best interests of the settlement class.”
The plaintiffs in the case include Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative, Inc., PITCO Foods, Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co., Central Grocers, Trepco Imports and Distribution, and Benjamin Foods LLC. The class includes any other direct purchasers of packaged tuna products in the U.S. from Chicken of the Sea between 1 June, 2011, and 31 July, 2015, and the actual terms of the settlement call for payments from COSI to the plaintiffs amounting to 3.2 percent of the combined sales of packaged tuna sold by the company during that timeframe.
Chicken of the Sea and Thai Union do not oppose the motion, through which neither party acknowledges any guilt, according to the filing.
“COSI, having concluded that it has valid defenses to the claims alleged, has nevertheless agreed to enter into this settlement agreement to avoid the expense, inconveruence, and uncertainty of further protracted litigation,” the filing said.
Eligible parties who wish to opt out of the agreement will be given a period of time to do so, to be outlined by Sammartino following her ruling on the settlement.
“The parties intend the settlement as described herein to be a final and complete resolution of all disputes between them with respect to the claims made in the complaint and the released claims, and it shall not be deemed an admission by any party as to the merits of any claim or defense of any allegation made in the complaint,” according to the agreement.
Photo courtesy of Tonelson Productions/Shutterstock
