Lawsuit
pays off
Checks began arriving in the mail last week for 24 San Joaquin and
Stanislaus county dairies, egg producers and feed companies that
filed a class action lawsuit against six vitamin suppliers. The
lawsuit was initiated by Gardner Rossi Co. of Ceres. The lawsuit
claimed that the suppliers of vitamins that are mixed into feed
intentionally fixed their prices. The defendants - identified as
the companies BASF, Daiichi, Eisai, Aventis, Roche and Takeda -
admitted no wrongdoing in the case and settled for $42 million in
2001. The case was appealed by a third party. That appeal was concluded
this year. Checks ranging from $1,700 to $547,000 were sent out
last week, said James Brown, a Stockton attorney who represented
the 24 plaintiffs. "Despite all the publicity, there were a
lot of plaintiffs with legitimate claims who walked away from this
money by not joining the suit," Brown said. "This was
a chance for farmers to recoup some money, but very few took advantage
of the situation."
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