June 14 (Reuters) - In a setback for litigation finance

company Burford Capital, a judge in Chicago ruled on

Friday that national food distributor Sysco ( SYY ) cannot back

out of price-fixing settlements with meat industry giant

Pilgrim's Pride.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin said Sysco's ( SYY ) settlement

with Pilgrim's Pride was enforceable despite opposition from

Burford, which had helped bankroll the litigation and argued

that the deal was never finalized.

The judge said emails between Sysco ( SYY ) and Pilgrim's confirmed

the accord.

The dispute between Sysco ( SYY ) and Pilgrim's Pride has been

closely watched by the litigation funding industry, which

provides financing to clients in exchange for a part of any

settlement or other judgment.

Burford had spent $140 million since 2019 backing Sysco's ( SYY )

antitrust cases, court documents show, and had opposed Sysco's ( SYY )

decision to settle for amounts that the funder considered to be

too low. Burford and Sysco ( SYY ) resolved their dispute, and Sysco ( SYY )

last year transferred its antitrust claims to Burford's newly

created unit Carina.

Sysco ( SYY ) on Friday declined to comment. Pilgrim's Pride did not

immediately respond to request for comment. The amounts of the

settlements, which would resolve claims that Pilgrim's Pride

fixed prices for beef, pork and chicken, were not publicly

disclosed. Pilgrim's Pride denied the claims.

In a statement, a Burford spokesperson said it was

"concerning that the court has today opted to enforce a supposed

agreement that the parties clearly never viewed as binding."

The Sysco ( SYY ) cases were part of a broader wave of price-fixing

claims against Pilgrim's Pride and other leading processors.

Other plaintiffs, also including consumers, have reached

settlements in some of the cases worth hundreds of millions of

dollars.

In Minnesota, JBS USA this month asked a U.S. judge to

enforce the terms of Sysco's ( SYY ) settlement with the company.

Burford had disputed Sysco's ( SYY ) settlement with JBS. JBS did not

respond to a request for comment.

In the Pilgrim's Pride case, Durkin acknowledged Sysco ( SYY ) and

Burford did not execute a final signed agreement. But the judge

said corporate emails from late 2022 "demonstrate an agreement"

between the two sides.

"That is sufficient objective evidence of an agreement to

enforce it," Durkin wrote.

Durkin said his order covers Sysco's ( SYY ) settlement with

Pilgrim's in lawsuits in Illinois and Minnesota. He rejected

Burford's argument he had no power to enforce a "global"

settlement involving claims in another state.

The case is In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, U.S.

District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, No.

1:16-cv-08637.

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