BURLINGTON, Vt.—Two dairy farmers filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vt., Oct. 8 against Dairy Farmers of America and Dean Foods Co. accusing them of antitrust violations in the Northeast.
As reported by the Dallas Morning News, the suit accuses Dean and Dairy Farmers of America, the nation's largest dairy cooperative, of "monopolizing a level of distribution of fluid milk in the Northeast and forcing dairy farmers to join DFA or its marketing affiliate, Dairy Marketing Services, to survive."
An attorney for the farmers said he will seek class-action status to include more than 10,000 farmers in 11 states.