January 20, 2015 — A group of 30 farmers in Ohio have joined a lawsuit seeking compensation for catastrophic economic losses caused by a genetically modified (GMO) corn seed made by Syngenta AG, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
The lawsuits were filed in federal court in Ohio. They were included in about 168 similar lawsuits that were transferred into a federal court in Kansas where one judge is overseeing the litigation.
Farmers accuse Syngenta AG, a Swiss agribusiness, of recklessly and negligently marketing Agrisure Viptera.
The seed was approved for planting in the United States in 2010 and quickly tainted much of the nation’s supply due to cross-pollination and cross-contamination on shared grain elevators. Syngenta also sued grain elevator companies that refused to accept Viptera.
Viptera was not approved for imports into China until December 2014. China is the third-biggest customer of American corn. About 1.45 million metric tons of corn was rejected, sending prices plummeting.
Farmers claim Syngenta misled them about the imminent approval of GMO corn seed in China. They claim Syngenta should have known about the risk, but “gambled U.S. farmers’ livelihood on approval of Viptera by the major corn-importing countries.”
In fact, a very similar litigation played out just a few years ago. In July 2011, Bayer paid $750 million to resolve a lawsuit on behalf of 11,000 American rice farmers who lost money due to LibertyLink, a GMO rice seed that contaminated more than 30% of American fields. Like Viptera, the farmers lost money when several countries refused to import tainted rice.
Do I have a GMO Corn Lawsuit?
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC is currently accepting Syngenta Viptera induced economic loss cases in all 50 states. If you are a corn farmer or exporter who had catastrophic financial losses due to GMO corn, you should contact our lawyers immediately for a free case consultation. Please use the form below to contact our Class Action Litigation Group or call toll free 24 hours a day at (866) 920-0753.
Attention Lawyers: We consider a referral from another law firm to be one of the greatest compliments. If your firm is interested in referring us a case or for us to send you a list of previous award judgments and/or average referral fees, please visit the Lawyer Referral section of our website.
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC has been recognized as one of the nation’s leading plaintiffs' law firms and handles cases in all 50 states. We are very proud of our legal achievements, but equally self-respecting of our firm's reputation for providing personal attention to each and every client we represent.
