From Sustainable Food News

A group of small dairy farmers in the southeast U.S. have filed a lawsuit against Dean Foods Co., the largest milk distributor in the country, accusing the company of price fixing.

Dean, based in Dallas, owns Nashville-based Purity Dairies and Horizon Organic, the largest organic milk producer in the United States. The 16 farmers, including eight from Tennessee, claim Dean used its influence and multistate network of milk cooperatives to run a monopoly.

National Dairy Holdings and Dairy Farmers of America Inc. were also named as defendants in the suit.

Dairy Farmers of America is a cooperative that controls 90 percent of milk produced in the Southeast, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs claim farmers outside Dean's network of cooperatives too often are unfairly excluded from accessing bottling and processing plants.

They claim Dean "continues to abuse that power to maintain and enhance its market dominance in the production and marketing of Grade A milk by unreasonably restraining trade ... ," according to the lawsuit filed July 5 in federal court.

The farmers in the lawsuit asked for class-action status, which would allow other regional farmers to join in the case. They also asked the court to order Dean and the cooperatives to sell off some of their bottling and processing plants to encourage competition.

"We believe that we are in full compliance of all anti-trust laws," Dean Foods spokeswoman Marguerite Copel said. The company's legal team was still reviewing details of the suit.

Stephanie Meyers, spokeswoman for Dairy Farmers of America said the cooperative does not comment on ongoing lawsuits.

"We just got it on Friday and haven't had a chance to thoroughly," Meyers said. Dean Foods produces and distributes nearly 50 regional milk brands, in addition to nondairy products such as the Silk brand of soy milk.

Dean shares were down 4 cents to $31.26 in afternoon trading Tuesday.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.

For more information on this topic or related issues you can search the thousands of archived articles on the OCA website using keywords:

Become an OCA Member! Sign up below:

First Name
Last Name
Email
Email Preference	HTML EmailText Email
Phone
Street
Street 2
City
State	Select One... Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware D.C. Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Other
Zip
Country	United StatesAfghanistanAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBhutanBoliviaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBrazilBruneiBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaColombiaComorosCongoCongDemocratic Republic of theCosta RicaCroatiaCubaCyprusCzech RepublicIvory CoastDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEast TimorEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFijiFinlandFranceGabonGambiTheGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGreeceGrenadaGuatemalaGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHondurasHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIranIraqIrelandIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKoreNorthKoreSouthKuwaitKyrgyzstanLaosLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacedoniFormer Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMarshall IslandsMauritaniaMauritiusMexicoMicronesiFederated States ofMoldovaMonacoMongoliaMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNorwayOmanPakistanPalauPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPolandPortugalQatarRomaniaRussiaRwandaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Vincent and The GrenadinesSamoaSan MarinoSao Tome and PrincipeSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbia and MontenegroSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyriaTaiwanTajikistanTanzaniaThailandTogoTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVatican CityVenezuelaVietnamWestern SaharaYemenZambiaZimbabwe