Martin Brothers Class Action Lawsuit Information
September 11, 2014
You may have seen or heard about the settlement agreement between Martin Brothers, a food service vendor for many Iowa schools, and members of a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit against Martin Brothers alleged a violation of Iowa antitrust laws, and specifically, that Martin Brothers attempted to monopolize the market for retail sales of food in schools based in part on how it approached bidding for school food service distribution. The parties settled the case on July 31, 2014, with Martin Brothers agreeing to establish a settlement fund which may be used to pay out settlement to class members.
The District is not a party to the settlement and is not responsible for distributing funds to potential class members. Every individual class member is responsible for submitting the required paperwork to the fund manager for reimbursement.
Potential class members may include anyone who paid for school lunches between January 1, 2000 and August 1, 2014. The public will be referred to this website: http://iowaschoolfoodsettlement.com/. The website is designed to help potential class members navigate the details of the settlement, and enable them to complete necessary paperwork to submit a claim for reimbursement.
Individuals (not the school) 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.