U.S. Supreme Court rejects StarKist's tuna price-fixing class action appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by StarKist Co, owned by South Korea's Dongwon Industries, to avoid a lawsuit by tuna buyers accusing it of fixing prices.

The justices turned away StarKist's appeal of a lower court's decision that let three groups of tuna purchasers receive class action status to jointly sue the canned tuna company even though a large number of buyers may not have been overcharged and injured by the price fixing.

The case could have given the justices, had they decided to hear it, a chance to make it harder for consumers and other plaintiffs to receive class action status.