Cargill Inc.

Cargill Inc., Minneapolis, agrees to settle for $24 million a class-action lawsuit that sought billions of dollars and accused the company of fixing prices of a common food sweetener. The company still denies the claims made in the lawsuit, filed in 1995 by 18 companies that manufacture soft drinks, canned good, baked goods and confectionary and dairy products. "We agreed to settle only after assessing the costs of further litigation," Cargill said in a statement. "We did not engage in any illegal activity." That leaves co-defendants Archer Daniels Midland Co. and A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co., a unit of Britain-based Tate & Lyle Plc, to face trial set for September on claims they fixed prices for high fructose corn syrup.