A U.S. district judge has decided a proposed class-action lawsuit against Syngenta will include half a million U.S. corn growers, but excluding those who planted two GMO strains from the Swiss seed company, says AgWeb. The lawsuit stems from China’s rejection in 2013 of cargoes containing Syngenta’s Viptera strain and the subsequent decline of corn prices.
The Syngenta strain was approved for cultivation by U.S. officials but was not cleared by China for import. “Plaintiff lawyers say damages could be as high as $5 to $7 billion by 2018,” said AgWeb.
Syngenta has denied any wrongdoing and says the decision on who is a plaintiff is not a ruling on the merits of the case. There is wide variation in how farmers grow and market corn, says the company, so it is wrong to lump them into one group. “Syngenta is considering its appellate options,” said the company.
Excluded from the class action case, said DTN, were farmers who planted Syngenta’s Viptera and Duracade seeds, as well as farmers who filed suit in Minnesota. There are 2,375 cases with 20,000 plaintiffs pending in Minnesota, said DTN.