BUTLER TWP — A civil suit brought against Friedman’s Freshmarkets has been withdrawn after a dispute over nearly $3 million in pension funds was settled in court-ordered mediation.

The settlement between Harold Friedman Inc. and members of the UFCW Local 23 Employers Pension Fund is confidential, according to Peter Russ, attorney for Friedman’s. Jason Mettley, who represented members of the fund, did not return messages seeking comment on the suit, which was filed in February by two fund trustees.

Those trustees, William Dillner Jr. and Anthony Heifer, said the company had withdrawn nearly $3 million — a so-called “complete withdrawal” under federal codes — from the fund, which is an employer pension plan.

That’s legal under the federal government’s Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act. But the trustees alleged in their suit that Friedman’s violated a requirement that employers continue payments to the plan to help cover liability for vested benefits.

The trustees said that Friedman’s initially made those monthly payments of $5,174, but “subsequently failed to make the payments due,” and ignored a demand by the fund to resume the monthly payments.

The suit, which was withdrawn without prejudice on July 1 by the trustees, had sought $2.97 million in damages, plus interest and “liquidated damages,” as well as legal expenses.