US: Judge OKs settlement in alleged potato price-fixing case

Potato organizations and grower-shippers have the OK from a federal judge to settle a price fixing case filed by retailers and consumers for $25 million and a promise that they won’t engage in “preplanting acreage management” for seven years. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill filed his order Dec. 14 in federal court in Idaho. The potato people and those suing them agreed to the settlement in June, but the judge said at the time he would delay his order until December. The settlement calls for consumers to receive $5.5 million and retailers to receive $19.5 million, according to court documents. More