BANGOR (AP) – Blueberry processors were cool to a proposed $21 million settlement as face-to-face negotiations got under way following a $56 million verdict, according to the Bangor Daily News.

The newspaper quoted two sources close to negotiations between lawyers for blueberry processors and growers as saying $21 million was suggested as an amount that could settle their differences.

Coming from the growers’ side, the figure arose during three hours of negotiations Jan. 2.

The suggestion, however, angered the processors’ seven attorneys, sources told the newspaper.

Maine Agriculture Commissioner Robert Spear invited both sides to join him in Augusta on Monday, when discussions were to resume with a professional negotiator from the Maine Labor Relations Board.

In November, growers won an $18.6 million verdict after accusing three processors of conspiring to fix field prices of blueberries. Damages were automatically tripled, for a total of $56 million.

The processors are Allen’s Blueberry Freezer of Ellsworth, Jasper Wyman and Son of Milbridge and Cherryfield Foods Incorporated.

Their lawyers, who have appealed the Knox County jury’s verdict to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, have said the original damages, before being tripled, were large enough to raise the specter of bankruptcy.

William Robitzek, the Lewiston attorney who has been the lead lawyer representing Maine’s 500 growers in the class action suit, has declined to comment on the negotiations.

Alan Johnson of Rockport, one of the original four plaintiffs, said he hoped Monday’s meeting could lead to a settlement.

“I don’t expect there will be $56 million paid out; I expect there will be a settlement,” Johnson said. “What we want is a fair price for our berries. That’s the thrust of it. It’s been long overdue.”