Hormel Foods will pay more than $11 million to settle class-action lawsuits alleging the company worked with other pork producers to illegally fix prices and overcharge customers, according to court records.

The proposed settlements, filed in federal court in Minneapolis last week, will see the Austin, Minn.-based food company end the litigation without admitting fault.

Hormel will pay $2.4 million to institutional customers like restaurants and delis; $4.8 million to wholesalers and other direct purchasers; and $4.4 million to consumers, if a federal judge approves the agreements.

  • Admiral Patrick
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    367 months ago

    Okay, nice.

    Article doesn’t say, but did they make more or less than $11 million extra as a result of price fixing during those years? If more, then this is just a business expense.

    • @ShunkW
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      257 months ago

      There’s no way they made less than that. This is performative bullshit at it’s finest

    • @davidgro
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      87 months ago

      My related question was: how many days (or maybe hours) of revenue is that for them?

      • @Viking_Hippie
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        77 months ago

        A giant conglomerate like them, it might be minutes if not seconds.

        This isn’t a slap on the wrist. It’s a light flick on the microbe on the fly on their wrist.

  • @[email protected]
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    287 months ago

    Someone, or several of them, need to start going to jail for this shit. This slightly cuts into their profits and the only lesson they’re learning is how to avoid getting caught next time.

    • Dave V
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      57 months ago

      Exactly. And ditto on many more instances of these settlements across a wide range of businesses and individuals.

  • @[email protected]
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    107 months ago

    Punishment for shit like this that fucks over masses of people should cost their entire profit of the years they were doing this, paid over 10 years and put towards public works. Any upper management who made bonuses during those years should also have to pay the amount the earned in bonuses. I assume it wouldn’t be but also make sure these debts are not able to be removed through bankruptcy or etc.

    • @Ilovemyirishtemper
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      67 months ago

      I would like this, but let’s also add in government oversight. You got caught doing something illegal in order to make more money? Your punishment is having a government official (or several) watch and check everything you do for the next 10 years to make sure everything you’re doing is legally up to snuff. Because when you’re naughty, mom watches you closer.

  • @[email protected]
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    57 months ago

    Fun fact, I work at a building that used to be a Hormel bacon slicing factory. They were the previous owners and we had to demo a bunch of their equipment.

    • @CatZoomies
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      7 months ago

      Fun fact, I entered one of the grocery stores near me, and i observed Hormel products for sale. I thought to myself, “Wow, those are certainly Hormel products for sale.”

      I’m making a joke of course, OP! 😀 Is there any more to your fun fact to share?

      [b]EDIT:[/b] Adding a smiley face to this post, as the intention is that I’m making a joke.

      • Flying Squid
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        57 months ago

        They wanted to connect to this story through a personal experience. Don’t be a jerk about it.

        • @CatZoomies
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          47 months ago

          My bad - I made a joke, and let the OP know it was a joke. Perhaps I should have used a smiley face emoji to further communicate this was a joke.

          I appreciate it’s difficult to communicate emotion in text form when people read text without knowing what kind of person is behind the text, so I’ll edit my post above by adding a smiley face in it.

          I also asked if there was any more to this story they could add, rather than leaving us waiting for more information.