CHERRYFIELD (AP) –Word of a $56 million price-fixing verdict against the state’s three major blueberry processors spread quickly this week.

Men burning fields for Cherryfield Foods were called off their tractors less than an hour after Tuesday’s verdict, one of them said, and told to go home. Workers don’t know when they’ll be returning to their jobs.

The impact could be acute in the town of Cherryfield, the self-proclaimed Blueberry Capital of the World, because Cherryfield Foods and Jasper Wyman & Son are its biggest taxpayers.

“This could not have come at a worse time,” Town Manager George Hanington said, referring to the upcoming holidays.

Lawyers for Cherryfield, Wyman & Son and the third defendant, Allen’s Blueberry Freezer Inc., have vowed to appeal.

A Knox County Superior Counrt jury concluded Tuesday that the three blueberry processors illegally conspired to set low field prices, costing growers $18.68 million from 1996 to 1999.

With triple damages, the total is $56.4 million and it could top $60 million with attorney fees, said William Robitzek, who represented growers in the class-action lawsuit.

He intends to file a motion for attachment of assets to secure the judgment by the week’s end because the processors have threatened to go out of business and to file for bankruptcy, Robitzek said.

Still, Robitzek said, there is plenty of time and room for growers and processors to talk.

“The growers want the processors to stay in business,” he said. “But they want to be fairly compensated. They want the process of setting the price of the fruit to be more transparent and less secretive.”

James Kilbreth, lawyer for Wyman’s, said Wednesday the defendants will file an appeal once the court enters the judgment.

Growers have traditionally received an initial payment of 25 cents a pound when the fruit is delivered. The final price, however, is not determined until after the harvest is over.

Such practices are not uncommon for fruit growers in other parts of the country. The problem, the jury found, was that the processors conspired to fix the price without negotiating with growers.

In the Hancock County town of Franklin, grower Tim Dickens said that no one intended for jobs to be cut because of the lawsuit.

“We don’t know what the future holds,” Dickens said. “Some people may think it’s great, in the short term, if they end up with a check for $10,000 for turning over 20,000 pounds over four years. But we might not have a place to sell our blueberries beyond that.”

AP-ES-11-20-03 0853EST