CHICAGO — A class of direct purchasers agreed to a $75 million settlement with two poultry processors involved in a consolidated antitrust lawsuit for allegedly conspiring to fix prices of US broiler chicken.

House of Raeford Farms Inc. agreed to pay $27.5 million, and Koch Foods Inc. agreed to pay $47.5 million. With the settlement, the total recovery to date is over $284 million.

The purchaser class previously secured settlements with Tyson Foods ($79.3 million), Pilgrim’s Pride ($75 million), Mountaire Farms ($15.9 million), Simmons Foods ($8 million), Mar Jack ($8 million), Peco ($5 million), O.K. Foods ($4.9 million), George’s ($4.1 million), Amick ($4 million), Harrison Poultry ($3.3 million) and Fieldale ($2.5 million).

The direct purchasers filed a memorandum for preliminary approval of the settlements with the House of Raeford and Koch on Oct. 6 with the Northern District Court Illinois Eastern Division.

US District Court Judge Thomas Durkin is overseeing the antitrust litigation. The lawsuit alleges that the poultry processors conspired as early as 2008 to manipulate the chicken market, affecting direct purchasers.

House of Raeford Farms and Koch Foods did not provide a comment to MEAT+POULTRY at the time of publication, but according to court documents, both deny any wrongdoing with the settlement.

“Neither House of Raeford nor Koch have admitted any liability and continue to deny the legal claims alleged in Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs’ complaint, but both have agreed to the settlements to avoid the cost and burden of litigation and eliminate the risk of an adverse judgment at trial,” the court documents said.