November 5, 2015 — Over 2,000 corn farmers and agribusinesses have filed lawsuits against the Swiss biotech company Syngenta, according to the Associated Press.
The litigation has grown rapidly in recent months, with 200 lawsuits filed in South Dakota and another 300 in Iowa. In early September, a federal judge rejected Syngenta’s bid to dismiss the lawsuits, paving the way for trials.
U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum oversees a centralized litigation against Syngenta in Kansas. Since December 2014, more than 1,860 lawsuits have been transferred from 22 states. About 1,300 of those lawsuits were originally filed in Minnesota.
Last month, Judge Lungstrum ordered lawyers to prepare a small number of cases for trial. Four farmers and two agribusinesses will be plaintiffs in “bellwether” trials scheduled for June 2017.If the cases are certified as a class action, every corn farmer and agribusiness who had economic losses due to Syngenta could be eligible for compensation.
Syngenta is accused of recklessly marketing GMO corn seeds to American farmers before it was approved in China. At the time, China was the third-largest customer for American corn.
In 2011, Syngenta began selling insect-resistant GMO corn in the United States. It rapidly cross-pollinated adjacent fields and contaminated non-GMO corn during storage and shipment. Syngenta aggressively filed lawsuits against grain elevators that refused to handle GMO corn seed.
As a result, much of the American corn supply was tainted with GMO traits. When China rejected imports of the tainted seed, the price of American corn plummeted and the industry lost up to $3 billion. In December 2014, China finally approved imports of GMO corn. Unfortunately, corn exports to China still have not fully recovered.
Do I have a Syngenta 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 agribusiness, 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.
