SAN FRANCISCO (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 18, 2013--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings and outlook on ConAgra Foods Inc. (BBB-/Stable/A-2) are not immediately affected following the company's announcement that the Superior Court of California issued a proposed decision in a 13-year-old case in which three of the defendants, ConAgra Grocery Products, NL Industries Inc., and The Sherwin-Williams Company, were ordered by the judge to collectively pay $1.1 billion to a California abatement fund. The allocation of this liability among the three companies has not yet been decided. The company stated that it believes that ConAgra Grocery Products is not an appropriate defendant in the litigation and will appeal. We believe that the appeals process could take
