Fw: Bayer CropScience Reaches 1st Settlement w/ Rice Farmers for GMRice Seed Contamination - Contact Adam Levitt (312) 984-0000
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Bayer CropScience Reaches First Settlement with Rice Farmers
for Genetically-Modified Rice Seed Contamination
St. Louis, MO – October 19, 2010 - On Friday evening, October 15, 2010, after the first four days of what was projected to be a five week trial, a settlement was reached in the Texas bellwether case in the Bayer Rice litigation. This settlement, while not a global settlement of the entire litigation, is extraordinarily significant, since it marks the first settlement of any of these rice farmer cases with Bayer, as well as first time Bayer has agreed to pay money to rice farmers for damages caused by the contamination of the U.S. rice supply with Bayer's genetically-modified, unapproved Liberty Link rice ("LLRICE") seeds and the market and other losses arising from that contamination.
The Texas bellwether trial was the fourth in a series of test trials ordered by U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry, of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri – the judge to whom all of these cases were assigned by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. This case, and the thousands of substantially similar cases that remain pending, concern the release of Bayer's genetically-engineered LLRICE into the U.S. rice supply in 2006. At the time of the contamination, LLRICE was regulated by the USDA and was prohibited from being released into the environment. As a result of Bayer's violation of these regulations, which resulted in the contamination of the U.S. rice supply with LLRICE, several export markets, including the European Union, refused to purchase rice from the United States. U.S. rice farmers, including the plaintiffs here, suffered severe monetary losses as a result of the decreased demand for their rice caused by Bayer's contamination. Plaintiffs prevailed in the first three bellwether trials against Bayer by unanimous jury verdicts.
Adam Levitt, one of the plaintiffs' Co-Lead Counsel in this multidistrict litigation and a partner in the Chicago office of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, stated that the settlement of the Texas bellwether case is a positive and encouraging result and further underscores the message that companies such as Bayer who elect to test and develop genetically-engineered crops in the United States need to play by the rules. If they fail do so, and corporate greed takes precedence over best practices and due care – as multiple juries have concluded happened here – companies will need to answer for their conduct, as Bayer has elected to do by this settlement.
As Mr. Levitt said, "Bayer's decision to settle the Texas bellwether case is a significant development. Not only does it mark the first time that Bayer has agreed to pay rice farmers for their damages arising out of the contamination of the U.S. rice supply with Bayer's genetically-modified LLRICE seeds, but it also sends the strong message that, after all these years, Bayer appears to be starting to take responsibility for this LLRICE contamination."
The trial team for the Texas bellwether case was comprised of Mr. Levitt; Don Downing, of the Gray, Ritter & Graham firm, from St. Louis, Missouri; Richard Arsenault, of the Neblett Beard & Arsenault firm, from Alexandria, Louisiana; and William Chaney, of the Looper, Reed & McGraw firm, from Dallas, Texas. Messrs. Levitt and Downing are Plaintiffs' Co-Lead Counsel in this MDL litigation and Messrs. Arsenault and Chaney are members of the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee.
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Contact:
Adam Levitt, Partner, Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLC (312) 984-0000
Katherine M. Ragsdale | Senior Vice President | Rubenstein Associates, Inc.
1345 Avenue of the Americas | New York, NY 10105 | t: 212 843 8298 | e: kragsdale@rubenstein.com
posted by Tom Karst @ 11:07 PM
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