Tyson settles swine lawsuit, announces two plant closures

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Tyson Foods says it is settling a lawsuit with swine producers in Oklahoma and Arkansas and will pay $42.5-million to 85 contract hog farmers. <br/><br/>The dispute began in 2002

Tuesday, July 19th 2005, 10:31 am

By: News On 6

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Tyson Foods says it is settling a lawsuit with swine producers in Oklahoma and Arkansas and will pay $42.5-million to 85 contract hog farmers.

The dispute began in 2002 when Arkansas-based Tyson restructured its swine operations and announced plans to end contracts with 132 hog farmers in eastern Oklahoma and in Arkansas. More than 80 of the farmers then sued saying misrepresentations made by Tyson led them to invest substantial amounts of money to build farms to raise hogs for Tyson.

The case had been tied up in Arkansas courts ever since.

Tyson says it retains some live swine operations including a hog breeding operation in Holdenville and several farms in northwest Arkansas.