04/04/06 Class action suit against meat packers

American Rancher April 4, 2006 The U.S. Supreme Court recently refused to hear an appeal from cattle producers in the Pickett versus IBP case but another lawsuit against the four largest U.S. beef packers is underway in South Dakota. This action was brought by three members of R-CALF USA and R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard explains the meat of the cattlemen's case. Bullard: "This is a landmark case. This is a case where USDA erred by under reporting boxed beef prices in the range of from $1 to $6 a hundredweight. And the beef packers used this information because they were the entities that were well aware that these prices were being under reported and they took advantage of that. As a result cattle prices declined and U.S. producers were caught in the middle and subject to a loss of about 40-million dollars." Bullard says this is an important case during an important time given the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the appeal in Pickett versus IBP and recent reports critical of the lack of enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act. A federal judge turned this case into a class action on behalf of all cattle producers who sold fed cattle on the cash market, or a basis affected by it, when USDA's boxed beef reporting mistakes occurred during the spring of 2001. I'm Bob Hoff.