July 26, 2017 — Monsanto is facing class action lawsuits from farmers who had crop damage as a result of illegal spraying of the weed-killer dicamba on GMO soybeans in 2016 and 2017.
One class action lawsuit (PDF) was filed on July 20 by a group of Arkansas farmers. They are seeking compensation on behalf of farmers who bought dicamba or Monsanto’s dicamba-resistant GMO seeds, or altered their equipment to spray dicamba on their crops.
Earlier this month, Arkansas banned dicamba spraying for the next 120 days after receiving over 600 complaints of crop damage as a result of “dicamba drift” off fields where it was sprayed.
The case is In Re: B&L Farms Partnership et al. v. Monsanto Company et al. —Case No. 2:17-cv-00122 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Monsanto is also facing a dicamba class action lawsuit in federal court in St. Louis, Missouri on behalf of farmers who suffered crop damage.
Lawyers accuse Monsanto of secretly telling farmers that illegally spraying dicamba on their crops “would be just fine,” according to testimony from the farmers who were pressured into buying Monsanto’s GMO dicamba-resistant soybeans in 2016 and 2017. According to the complaint:
“This was Monsanto’s real plan: publicly appear as if it were complying, while allowing its seed representatives to tell farmers the opposite in person.”
Lawyers also say Monsanto benefitted from “dicamba drift” because it pressured farmers into buying Monsanto’s dicamba-resistant GMO soybeans that would survive being accidentally sprayed with dicamba, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Dicamba is a weed-killer that has been around for decades, but it was traditionally only sprayed on bare soil — not growing plants. Dicamba wasn’t a problem until last year, when Monsanto started selling GMO soybeans that were engineered to survive dicamba and glyphosate.
Spraying dicamba on growing plants is illegal because it evaporates and drifts over nearby fields and homes, damaging crops. Millions of acres of crops were damaged by “dicamba drift.” Since 2016, over 1,000 complaints were reported in Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Texas, and other states.
Do I have a Dicamba Lawsuit?
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC is currently investigating dicamba induced injury cases in all 50 states. If you or somebody you know was diagnosed with cancer from dicamba, we would like to speak with you. Please contact our lawyers immediately for a free case consultation by using the form below or calling our Toxic Chemical Litigation Group toll-free 24 hours a day at (866) 920-0753.
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