DuPont must pay $29.5 million to Costa Rican nurseries

AP 10aug01

MIAMI - A jury ruled Friday that DuPont Co. must pay two Costa Rican growers $29.5 million for plant damage caused by the fungicide Benlate.

The jury deliberated 9 1/2 hours before finding for the growers in the racketeering allegations against the world's largest chemical maker, which no longer makes Benlate.

The five-week trial was the first time DuPont faced racketeering charges before a jury over Benlate, which is blamed for killing, deforming and damaging nursery plants, especially in moist, humid climates.

Under Florida law, the jury's civil racketeering verdict means Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Amy Steele Donner could triple the jury's award to $88.5 million. The jury did not award punitive damages in the case.

Producturas de Semillas was awarded $15.5 million for lost plants and profits and Palmas & Bambu gained $14 million for lost plants and nursery replanting costs. The growers had sought $29 million in compensatory damages.

In a statement, DuPont said the verdict was a product of juror confusion caused by rulings that excluded key evidence in the case.

"This verdict was the result of a seriously flawed proceeding and we look forward to a higher court's review of the several and substantial grounds we will raise on appeal," DuPont spokesman Mike Ricciuma said.

Adam Moskowitz, a lawyer for the growers, said they were satisfied with the results.

"We believe that the jury system worked. We have confidence that the jury and the judge did a very thorough and reliable job," Moskowitz said.

DuPont, which ordered a halt to Benlate production in April after 32 years, has paid out more than $1 billion in settlements and legal fees on Benlate damage claims but denies the Costa Rican growers' racketeering, fraud, negligence and defective product claims.

In closing arguments on Wednesday, growers attorney Karen Humphreys said DuPont launched a corporate damage control program by assigning an attorney to supervise Benlate testing, altering some results and discarding others that ended with a "blackened mass of vegetation."

"The real field test had occurred with farmers all over the world in 1990 and 1991," she said, blaming plant damage on a toxic buildup of a breakdown chemical when bags of Benlate were exposed to moisture.

DuPont attorney John Boudet dismissed the growers' "searing allegations" on Wednesday as a smear campaign built on "pseudoscience." Under those conditions, he said, "then maybe, just maybe, you don't have to deal with the science."

The growers benefited from a pretrial ruling allowing jurors to hear that DuPont conducted tests in Costa Rica in 1992 and, as claims mounted, destroyed records that it had a legal duty to preserve.

Boudet said the test was dropped after a spot inspection because the plants were diseased.

Thanks to Steve Tvedten for this article