Minnesota Federal Court Certifies Consumer Pork Class Represented by Gustafson Gluek PLLC

On March 29, 2023, U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim certified three classes of Plaintiffs to proceed in litigation against the largest pork producers in the United States.  One of the classes includes everyday consumers who purchased pork for themselves and their families at retail stores.  This class is legally referred to as the Consumer Indirect Purchaser Plaintiff (CIPP) class, which is represented in a Co-Lead capacity by Gustafson Gluek PLLC.  

Beginning in 2018, these three groups of plaintiffs—those who purchased directly from the pork producers (Direct Purchasers), restaurants and other commercial and institutional indirect buyers (Commercial Indirect Purchasers), and the CIPPs—filed lawsuits against the pork producers in the federal court in Minnesota.  The case was assigned to Judge Tunheim.

In their operative complaints, the Plaintiffs allege that the Nation’s largest pork producers anticompetitively conspired to restrict the supply of pork to artificially increase the price of pork in violation of federal and state antitrust laws.  The Plaintiffs seek treble damages, attorneys’ fees and costs for all damages arising from the pork producers alleged illegal conduct.  

After more than four years motion practice and discovery, the Plaintiffs filed motions for class certification in May 2022.  Under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, certification is a crucial step in prosecuting cases like this because individual plaintiff damages are small but the collective damages of the case are enormous.  Judge Tunheim certified the classes. 

Soon after certification, the Defendant pork producers filed for permission to appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to have the appellate court reverse Judge Tunheim’s order granting class certification.  The Eighth Circuit rejected the pork companies’ request, preserving the trial court’s class certification order.

In addition to the plaintiffs who stepped up in this case, the success of this case, so far, is in large part to the extraordinary team of Gustafson Gluek attorneys who have served as Co-Lead Counsel for the CIPP Class, including Dan Gustafson, Dan Hedlund, Michelle Looby, Josh Rissman, and Abou Amara.