BPI claims settlement with ABC 'vindicates' Dunes firm's beef product
ELK POINT – As the Union County courtroom began to fill Wednesday morning, one could sense an atmosphere different from the one present in the room during the previous 17 days of trial in Beef Products Inc.'s $1.9 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC.
BPI's lawyers, usually serious and businesslike in the minutes before a session began, joked and laughed with one another.
BPI owners Eldon and Regina Roth were present as they had been through much of the trial, but were accompanied by several other family members. A contingent from the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce filled several seats in the room.
The scene begged the question: Was something up?
That question was answered seconds after Circuit Judge Cheryle Gering entered the courtroom and sat down, addressing the 16 jurors who had sat through hours of testimony from BPI witnesses called to support the company's claim that ABC news reports that had repeatedly used the term "pink slime" to describe BPI's Lean Finely Textured Beef product had caused millions of dollars in damages to the Dakota Dunes-based meat processor.
Read more: http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2017/06/28/settlement-reached-bpi-abc-lawsuit/435121001/