LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- A federal court is on track to approve John Deere's proposed right-to-repair settlement in an ongoing class-action lawsuit filed by farmers across the country sometime after the first of the year, after issuing an amended order of preliminary approval on Monday. The court also denied a Missouri farmer's request to file briefs in response to a review of the differences and similarities between the farmer settlement and another settlement Deere reached with the Federal Trade Commission.

The order on the farmer settlement was filed by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois a little more than one month after the company reached a settlement with the FTC and five states.

U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston said in an order on Monday that the farmer settlement is "fair, reasonable, adequate and in the best interests of the settlement class" and that the settlement raises "no obvious reasons to doubt its fairness."

The judge set Aug. 28, 2026, as the new deadline for beginning notification of the farmer settlement class. That class is expected to include more than 200,000 members who purchased repair services from John Deere or its authorized U.S. dealers between Jan. 10, 2018, and May 18, 2026.

The new deadline for filing objections to the $99 million settlement is Dec. 4, 2026, and the deadline for filing claim forms is Dec. 31, 2026, followed by a fairness hearing on Jan. 19, 2027.

DTN reached out to John Deere seeking comment.

REVIEW OF SETTLEMENTS

The FTC settlement in the same court requires Deere to make repair resources available to independent repair shops and farmers nationwide.

Since that FTC settlement was announced, the plaintiff farmers and Deere conducted a joint review of the two settlements.

They filed a joint position paper with the court on July 9, 2026, to clarify the relationship between the two settlements, including identifying overlap between them.

Both sides agreed to amend the farmer settlement agreement with the following language: "The parties agree that despite minor differences in language used, the repair resources covered by the injunctive provisions in this settlement and the stipulated order for permanent injunction and other relief between Deere and the FTC are the same in substance and meaning, the scope of repair resources covered by this settlement and the FTC settlement shall be interpreted identically."

MISSOURI FARMER DENIED

After the farmer plaintiffs and Deere filed the position paper, Butler, Missouri, farmer Jared Wilson asked the court to set a briefing schedule on the amended preliminary approval.

Wilson, who had been a class representative and a lead plaintiff in the farmer case, filed an objection to the proposed settlement.

The court rejected Wilson's motion for a briefing schedule in response to the position paper, after counsel for John Deere successfully argued Wilson did not have a legal right to a hearing on that issue.

"At this juncture, Wilson Farms is merely an objector under Rule 23 (civil rule on class actions) and thus has limited rights that do not include filing motions in this court," Deere said in a court document.

"Rule 23 does not permit Wilson Farms to now become a roving appendage to the litigation."

In his objection, Wilson said the proposed settlement was inadequate in compensating farmers and that he planned to file a supplemental brief sometime in July to address concerns he had about counsel representation in the settlement. Wilson's objection to the settlement is set to be heard by the court.

"Despite hinting at potential misconduct by class counsel, Wilson Farms has provided no evidence to support the charge," the court said in an Aug. 7, 2026, order.

"Wilson Farms announced its intent to file a supplemental brief addressing 'serious concerns about self−dealing and inadequate representation by class counsel' but it hasn't filed such a brief. Indeed, Wilson Farms has objected to the proposed class settlement and remains free to do so. It isn't free to stop the preliminary approval of the class settlement as an absent class member."

Read more on DTN:

"Farmer Fights Deere's $99M Settlement," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

"FTC Forces Deere to Open Tool Chest," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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