$87.5 Million Tyson and Cargill Beef Settlement: Approved, Claims Closed, Payments Pending

This is an antitrust class action brought by consumers who bought beef at grocery stores. They claim that four major beef processors, JBS, Cargill, National Beef, and Tyson Foods, entered into a market allocation agreement and stopped competing for market share. The alleged purpose and effect was to raise the processors' margins and the price consumers paid for beef. That kind of agreement, if proven, is a form of price-fixing under the antitrust laws.

Consumers who bought at a store rather than from the packers are called indirect purchasers. Tyson agreed to pay $55 million and Cargill agreed to pay $32.5 million, for a total of $87.5 million, to settle the consumer indirect purchaser claims against them. Both also agreed to non-monetary relief, including cooperating in the case against the remaining defendants.

The court has not ruled that any defendant did anything wrong, and all of them deny the allegations. JBS USA Food Company, Swift Beef Company, JBS Packerland, and National Beef Packing Company have not settled, and the case continues against them. Separate classes of direct purchasers and commercial buyers have their own settlements and websites; this page covers only the consumer class. For more on how these laws work, see antitrust laws in our glossary and our guide on types of class action lawsuits.

You are in the settlement class if, between August 1, 2014 and December 31, 2019, you bought, for personal consumption and not directly from a defendant, fresh or frozen beef made from chuck, loin, rib, or round primal cuts, in one of these "repealer" jurisdictions:

Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Only purchases made in those 26 states and the District of Columbia counted, because those jurisdictions allow indirect purchasers to recover antitrust damages. Buying beef in Texas or Georgia, for example, did not qualify.

Many products were excluded:

• Premium beef: USDA Prime, organic, 100% grass-fed, Wagyu, and "American-Style Kobe Beef"
• Specialty beef: No Antibiotics Ever, antibiotic-free, kosher, halal, and certified humane
• Processed beef: ground, marinated, seasoned, flavored, breaded, or cooked

The website offers a lookup tool to check whether specific grocery products count. If you bought a mix of eligible and ineligible cuts, only the eligible fresh or frozen chuck, loin, rib, and round purchases matter for your share.

Also excluded are the defendants and their officers, directors, and employees; government entities; and the judge, judicial staff, and jurors. Our guide to settlements that do not require proof of purchase explains how purchase estimates work in claims like this.

There is no flat payment. Each valid claimant gets a pro rata share of the net fund, proportional to the amount of eligible beef they bought during the class period. You did not need to file separate claims for Tyson and Cargill.

Item	Amount
Tyson and Cargill settlements	$87,500,000
Attorneys' fees (up to one-third, plus interest)	About $29.2 million
Litigation expenses	$8,871,642.26
Service awards	$2,000 per class representative
Administration	Deducted, amount not posted

The court awarded class counsel up to 33 1/3% of the gross settlement amount plus $8,871,642.26 in expenses, which Capital Press reported comes to more than $38 million. That leaves roughly $49 million, before administration costs and service awards for the 28 named plaintiffs, to divide among valid claims.

Because payments track reported purchases, a household that bought a lot of eligible steaks and roasts over five years will get more than someone who bought a few. Remember that ground beef, which many families buy most, did not count, and neither did organic, grass-fed, or Prime beef. That means a claimant's eligible total is often smaller than their overall beef spending. The claim form asked for estimates rather than receipts, and the administrator can question estimates that look unrealistic during fraud review.

The administrator has not published a per-claimant estimate or a claim count, and we have not found one in a court filing. Estimates circulating online are not from the court or the administrator. Your payment depends on how much beef you reported relative to everyone else and on how many claims survive fraud review. For why payouts vary so much, see how class action money is divided.

Claims were filed online or on paper, postmarked by June 30, 2026, with one claim covering both the Tyson and Cargill settlements. Claimants estimated how much eligible beef they bought.

According to the settlement website, payments will go out only after all claims have been reviewed and any deficient claims have had sufficient time to respond. The site gives no payment date. If the administrator flags your claim as deficient, respond by the deadline in the letter or email, or your claim can be rejected.

If your address or email changed after you filed, notify Consumer Indirect Beef Litigation, c/o Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 3605, Portland, OR 97208-3605, or call 1-877-283-8711. We do not file or track claims for anyone. For how to follow a pending payment, see how to check a settlement's status.

Event	Date
Class period	August 1, 2014 to December 31, 2019
Opt-out and objection deadline	March 30, 2026 (passed)
Fairness hearing	May 2026
Final approval granted	May 27, 2026
Claim deadline	June 30, 2026 (passed)
Payments	After claim review; no date announced

The website's status note says the court held its hearing on May 20, 2026, while its dates list shows a fairness hearing on May 26, 2026; both agree final approval came on May 27, 2026. As of September 2026, claims are closed, final approval has been granted, and the administrator is still reviewing claims before any payment.

If you did not file by June 30, 2026, you will not be paid from the Tyson and Cargill settlements, and if you did not opt out by March 30, 2026, you released your claims against those two companies.

There is still a path forward. The official website says people who missed the June 30, 2026 deadline can still take part in any future settlements or judgments against JBS and National Beef. You did not release claims against those defendants by staying in this settlement. Keep an eye on the settlement website for news about the remaining defendants.

If you opted out, you kept the right to sue Tyson and Cargill on your own, but individual antitrust claims over grocery purchases are rarely practical. See our guide on opting out or objecting for the tradeoffs, and open versus closed settlements for how deadlines work.

Food and consumer price-fixing cases often pay consumers in several rounds as different defendants settle. In this case, the consumer class has so far recovered $87.5 million from two of the four processor groups. For other antitrust cases where consumers can recover overcharges, see the RealPage rent antitrust settlement and the Visa and Mastercard ATM fee settlement.

For this settlement, the official settlement website linked above is the only source for claim status. If your business bought beef or other commodities in large volumes and you believe you overpaid because of a cartel, a free case review can connect you with independent attorneys who handle antitrust claims.