MUSKOGEE, OKLA. — Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. agreed to pay $100 million to settle a class action suit alleging the company was part of a conspiracy to underpay chicken growers. Pilgrim’s Pride denied any wrongdoing in the settlement agreement.

With the preliminary settlement filed on Aug. 16 with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the total recovery for the case would be $169 million.

Both the recovery from Pilgrim’s and the aggregate recoveries in the case represent the largest sum recovered for a class of growers in any litigation, according to the court documents. Furthermore, the settlement filing noted that $100 million would be the largest amount paid in any antitrust case in the protein industry.

Other poultry processors to have reached agreements in the case include Tyson Foods ($21 million), Perdue Farms ($14.75 million), Sanderson Farms ($17.75 million), and Koch Foods ($15.5 million). If approved, the Pilgrim’s settlement would finalize the class action lawsuit.

In the case, broiler growers alleged they were “deprived of vigorous competition for their broiler-grow out services” because of a conspiracy between Pilgrim’s, Tyson, Perdue, Sanderson, Koch and 17 co-conspirators.

The settlement class covers broiler growers compensated for their services by one of the named poultry processors or a co-conspirator during the period Jan. 27, 2013, through Dec. 31, 2019.