Tyson Foods will appeal $7.3 million verdict in case filed by farmers

Tyson Foods will appeal $7.3 million verdict

SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Tyson Foods will appeal a $7.3 million verdict in a lawsuit filed by the company’s contract growers who claim the company defrauded them.

Tyson called the jury decision a “runaway verdict,” and said the company abided by the terms of its contracts with farmers.

A group of McCurtain County farmers sued Tyson, claiming the company coerced them into investing money into their poultry houses and taking low payments for their chickens.

Tyson operates a poultry plant in Broken Bow, Okla. and has 225 contract farmers who supply it with chickens, including 79 in McCurtain County. An attorney for the contract farmers did not return calls seeking comment.