Washington, DC: Certain persons and entities that purchased certain Vitamin Products may be eligible for relief as part of a $25.03 million Proposed Settlement of a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that the Settling Defendants injured Class Members through a price-fixing conspiracy that raised prices for indirect purchases of certain Vitamin Products, even if the indirect purchases were of food products including Vitamin Products as an ingredient or as part of animal feed. Settling Defendants deny these claims.
The states included in the Proposed Settlement are called the "Settling States." "Vitamin Products" are all of the types of vitamins included in the Proposed Settlement. Lists of the Settling States, the Vitamin Products and the Settling Defendants are available in the Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement ("Notice"), available at the contact information below.
The Proposed Settlement is on behalf of classes of "indirect" purchasers of Vitamin Products, i.e., purchasers who purchased from persons or entities other than Settling Defendants or their co-conspirators. The Consumer Settlement Class includes persons who reside in a Settling State and indirectly purchased Vitamin Products for use or consumption (i.e., not for resale) from within one or more of the Settling States at any time during the Relevant Period (for most Vitamin Products, January 1, 1990 through December 31, 1999). The Commercial Settlement Class includes all persons or entities that made any Qualifying Purchases at any time during the Relevant Period. The Relevant Period, Qualifying Purchases, and certain exclusions are defined in the Notice, available at the contact information below.
If the Proposed Settlement is approved, Commercial Class Members may file a claim against their portion of the fund. Due to the large size of the Consumer Settlement Class, its portion of the fund will be distributed to charitable organizations and other eligible entities approved by the Court.
Class Members do not need to do anything at this time to stay in the class. However, Commercial Class Members must submit a Claim Form if they wish to obtain money from the Proposed Settlement. Claim Forms are available at www.indirectvitaminssettlement.com. Claim Forms must be postmarked by April 19, 2010. Requests for exclusion from either class as well as any comment on, or objection to, the Proposed Settlement must also be postmarked by April 19, 2010.
The Court will hold a Final Fairness Hearing on June 18, 2010, at which time the Court will consider whether the Proposed Settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate as well as the motion for attorneys' fees and expenses.
