March 26, 2015 — Syngenta AG is facing over 1,500 lawsuits involving economic losses from GMO corn, including individual lawsuits from corn farmers and major exporters like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland, according to Law360.
The litigation also includes at least 66 putative class actions on behalf of both farmers and exporters, according to the High Plains Journal.
Since last year, much of the litigation has been centralized in one federal court in Kansas, overseen by U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum. At least 492 lawsuits remain pending in Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2591).
While some farmers have argued that their cases belong in state court, Syngenta has argued that federal jurisdiction is necessary to review China’s decision to ban imports of GMO-tainted corn seed, and they have aggressively fought to keep the litigation in federal court.
Plaintiffs accuse Syngenta of aggressively and recklessly marketing MIR162, a genetically-modified (GMO) corn seed, before it was approved for import into China, the third-largest customer of American corn.
Although MIR162 was only planted on 3% of corn acres in the United States, over 1.45 million metric tons of seed was tainted due to cross-pollination and cross-contamination on shared grain elevators and shipping containers.
Lawyers claim Syngenta “jumped the gun” and knew that releasing the seed before China’s approval could lead to devastating economic losses. At the same time Syngenta was marketing MIR162, a nearly identical scenario played out with GMO rice seed. In 2011, Bayer paid $750 million to settle lawsuits from 11,000 rice farmers who had economic losses when the GMO seed tainted their crops.
Do I have a Syngenta GMO Corn Lawsuit?
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC is currently accepting Syngenta GMO corn induced economic loss cases in all 50 states. If you are a corn farmer or exporter, you should contact our lawyers immediately for a free case consultation. Please use the form below to contact our Product Liability Litigation Group or call toll free 24 hours a day at (866) 920-0753.
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