Dole Hopes to Undo $2 Billion Awards

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Dole Food Co. is using a California judge’s finding of a conspiracy hatched by plaintiff’s lawyers and Nicaraguan courts to fend off more than $2 billion in verdicts against the fruit producer and other U.S. firms for pesticide poisoning.

Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney in Los Angeles ruled that three suits alleging ill effects from Dole’s use of a farm chemical were based on false testimony by coached Nicaraguan men. They alleged banana farming in the 1970s exposed them to a pesticide that left them sterile. The judge threw out two cases awaiting trial, and Dole appealed the one it lost. The company is using Chaney’s ruling to fight paying a $98.5 million Nicaraguan verdict in Miami federal court.

Dole says there’s no reliable evidence that farm use of the chemical causes sterility. It appealed the verdict along with its codefendant, Midland, Michigan-based Dow. The award against Dole after post-trial motions is $1.58 million.




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