Friday, September 5, 2014

Smith Class Action Suit



A class action suit was filed by the Adel-DeSoto-Minburn School District against Martin Brothers Distributing and the Iowa Association for Educational Purchasing..  The premise of their suit was that Martin Brothers conspired to restrain competition in the market for the retail sale of food to schools and that Martin Brothers attempted to monopolize that market in violation of Iowa antitrust laws.

The settlement agreement was filed with the Clerk of District Court in Dallas County on July 31.
The key points of the Martin Brothers settlement in the case are these:
·         Martin Brothers will pay $1,925,000 to create a settlement fund which will provide monetary relief to the settlement class.
·         The settlement class is anyone who paid for a school lunch between January 1, 2000, and July 31, 2014.
·         A third party will arrange to have notices published in an attempt to reach 88% of Iowa’s residents.  This means that notices will be published in 14 of Iowa’s largest newspapers.  The notice will direct interested persons to a website.
·         Individuals in the settlement class may complete and submit paperwork to receive reimbursement.  Individuals in the class may receive $3.50 for each year they attended a participating school district up to a maximum of $50.00.
·         Any funds remaining after attorney’s fees and class members receive their payments will be paid to participating school districts on a pro rata basis.

WHO Television in Des Moines, Iowa provided the article linked here which provides a brief description of the lawsuit.

Iowa School Food Settlement - Link to file a claim 

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