The Eighth Circuit has denied a mandamus petition from Agri Stats Inc. and major pork producers who are seeking a Minnesota federal judge's recusal in price-fixing litigation based on a law clerk's previous work on a related case.

The appeals court issued a one-page order Friday denying the petition without explanation. The district court also issued an order Friday denying a motion seeking to stay the case pending a ruling on the mandamus petition.

U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim said in the order denying the stay bid that the case has been pending for more than seven years and is now ready for trial.

"Further delays would not only harm plaintiffs by again halting trial preparation but would be contrary to the public's interest in the prompt and efficient administration of justice," the order said. "The court considers that defendants are unlikely to succeed on the merits for the reasons set for in the court's opinion denying recusal and vacatur."

Pork producers, including Clemens Food Group, Seaboard Foods, Smithfield Foods, Triumph Foods and Tyson Foods Inc., are facing claims from separate groups of buyers accusing them of illegally sharing production and pricing information through the data analytics firm Agri Stats in order to suppress production and artificially inflate prices.

The companies brought their motion for recusal in April, claiming that Judge Tunheim's clerk previously worked for firms representing one of the plaintiff classes and has a standing offer to join another firm that has targeted "Big Agriculture." Their filing also said the clerk "publicly embraced plaintiffs' attorneys in this case in the courtroom" immediately after a hearing.

In addition to seeking the judge's recusal, the motion also sought to reverse the court's 232-page summary judgment ruling that largely denied the companies' bid to end the claims ahead of trial.

Judge Tunheim rejected the recusal motion in October, saying the defendants had "fabricated an appearance of impropriety" where there was none and calling the clerk "one of more than a half-dozen" law clerks who have worked on the matter. The judge said the clerk never actually worked on the case during his summer internships with the plaintiffs' firms, while questioning the timing of the motion, saying it had the appearance of being more "tactical than sincere."

Agri Stats and several producers then lodged a mandamus petition asking the Eighth Circuit to reverse the recusal and summary judgment decisions, which the appeals court denied on Friday.

A trial is scheduled to start in the case on May 4.

Representatives for the parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

The consumer indirect purchasers are represented by Shana E. Scarlett, Rio S. Pierce, Steve W. Berman, Breanna Van Engelen, Elaine T. Byszewski and Abigail D. Pershing of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Daniel E. Gustafson, Daniel C. Hedlund, Michelle J. Looby and Joshua J. Rissman of Gustafson Gluek PLLC.

The institutional indirect purchasers are represented by Shawn M. Raiter of Larson & King LLP and Michael J. Flannery of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP.

The direct purchaser plaintiffs are represented by Brian D. Clark, W. Joseph Bruckner and Joseph C. Bourne of Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP and Bobby Pouya, Michael H. Pearson, Clifford H. Pearson, Daniel L. Warshaw and Melissa S. Weiner of Pearson Warshaw LLP.

Agri Stats is represented by Justin W. Bernick and William L. Monts III of Hogan Lovells.

Clemens Food Group is represented by Daniel Laytin, Christa Cottrell, Jenna Stupar, Nicholas M. Ruge and Amarto Bhattacharyya of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Seaboard Foods is represented by Peter J. Schwingler, Kelly Holt Rodriguez and Tess L. Erickson of Jones Day and William L. Greene, William D. Thomson and J. Nicci Warr of Stinson LLP.

Smithfield Foods is represented by Brian Robinson of Brown Fox PLLC, John A. Cotter and John A. Kvinge of Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren Ltd., Richard Parker of Milbank LLP and Josh Lipton of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

Triumph Foods is represented by Michael T. Raupp, Christopher A. Smith, Jason Husgen, A. James Spung and Daniel G. Solomon of Husch Blackwell LLP.

Tyson Foods is represented by Mary Helen Wimberly, Tiffany Rider, Lindsey Strang Aberg, Denise L. Plunkett and Jarod Taylor of Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP and Scott M. Rusert and A. Christopher Brown of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP.

The case is In re: Pork Antitrust Litigation, case number 0:18-cv-01776, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. The mandamus petition is In re: Agri Stats Inc. et al., case number 25-3091, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.