A lawsuit involving an overtime dispute between Oakhurst Dairy and some of its drivers, which sparked a memorable ruling on the virtues of the “Oxford comma” by an appeals court judge, has been settled for $5 million.

The suit, filed in 2014, alleged the dairy’s drivers were eligible for overtime pay. The dairy, which in early 2014 was sold to a farmer cooperative by the Maine family that had owned it for 93 years, argued that the wording of state law meant the drivers weren’t eligible for overtime pay.

Oakhurst did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which was filed in federal court Thursday. The deal still needs to be approved by a federal judge before it goes into effect.

The settlement calls for the five drivers who led the suit, called the “named plaintiffs,” to receive $50,000 each from the settlement fund. Other drivers will have to file claims to get a share of the fund and will be paid a minimum of $100 or the amount of overtime pay they were owed, based on their work records from May 2008 until August 2012.

A Maine federal court had initially ruled that the drivers weren’t entitled to overtime under a state law that exempted workers employed in, among other things, “packing for shipment or distribution of …” a handful of products, including perishable products such as milk, cheese and other dairy goods.

The drivers appealed that ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, where appeals court Judge David Barron issued a 29-page ruling that explored the use of the Oxford comma — also known as the “serial comma,” the state Legislature’s law-drafting manual and gerunds, which are nouns formed from verbs by adding the suffix “-ing.” The court also ruled that, in cases of confusion over a law’s wording, it should be “liberally construed.”

The lower court judge ruled that the law exempted the drivers from overtime rules because they were involved in shipment and distribution of the products. But Barron said the lack of a comma between “shipment” and “or distribution of” meant both phrases referred back to “packing” and, because the drivers deliver the products, but don’t pack them, they weren’t covered by the Maine exemption to overtime pay.

The March 2017 ruling by Barron sent the case back to the federal District Court in Maine and opened the door to the settlement because it had determined that the drivers were entitled to overtime pay.

Lawyers for the two sides did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the settlement.

An Oakhurst Dairy truck leaves the company headquarters on Forest Avenue in Portland in January 2014. (Gabe Souza/Portland Press Herald file photo)