CHICAGO — A class of direct purchaser plaintiffs recently settled an ongoing antitrust case against several poultry processors to save money on legal fees.

The filing from the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division stated that the defendants resolving the case included Foster Farms, Perdue Farms, Case Farms, Claxton Farms, Wayne and Sanderson Farms and Agri Stats.

In the summary of settlement negotiations, the parties noted the agreement was a product of an independent negotiation process that commenced with each settling defendant in December 2023 and will stop post-trial proceedings or appeals.

“Each of the settling defendants mutually agree to waive any rights to appeal or otherwise further adjudicate their claims against each other in In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, and in exchange each party agrees not to seek or assert any claim for costs, fees, attorney’s fees or any other form of recovery against the other,” the court document said.

Both sides also agreed to preliminary approval.

Other plaintiffs in this lawsuit agreed to more than $284 million in settlements dating back to October 2023. Many of these cases were consolidated antitrust lawsuits for poultry companies allegedly conspiring to fix prices of US broiler chicken.

Previous litigation alleged that the poultry processors conspired as early as 2008 to manipulate the chicken market, affecting direct purchasers.