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The New York Times—April 2, 1994
DuPont has agreed to pay $214 million to 220 farmers who said their crops
had been ruined by a fungicide from the company.
The settlement, announced on Friday, eliminates nearly half the suits
against DuPont in connection with the fungicide, Benlate® DF, which
was recalled in 1991. Since that year, when the crop damage was first
reported, DuPont paid more than $500
million to farmers.
DuPont said that it accepted no liability in the settlements and
that Benlate® was safe. The company, headquartered in Wilmington, Del.,
said it was cheaper to settle the cases than contest them in trials.
"Winning jury trials does not always justify the economic costs
required to uphold the integrity of our product," said a senior
vice president and special counsel, John F. Schmutz.
In
addition to the suits settled on Friday, 70 others have been settled,
dismissed by judges or reached trial.
The
settlement was announced on Friday, four days after Florida officials said
that they had proved that Benlate® was contaminated with a potent
weed killer.
Agriculture Commissioner Bob Crawford, who faulted Benlate® for
$1 billion in crop losses in Florida, said on Friday: "This settlement
will help a substantial number of growers to put their farming operations
back in order. This is a responsible step. I urge DuPont to settle
the remaining claim and close the chapter on Benlate®."
Dispute
Over Damage
DuPont paid at least $510 million in damage claims to growers—$400
million of that total in Florida—after a recall in 1991. The
company then announced In November 1992 that it was stopping all payments
and that its research had proved that Benlate® had not caused
damages reported by 2,100 growers in 40 states.
That announcement prompted a flurry of suits against the company.
Mr. Crawford announced on Monday that his scientists had proved that
Benlate® was contaminated with a class of weedkillers, sulfonylureas,
that kills plants in extremely low doses.
DuPont, the leading manufacturer of the weed killers, denied the state's
contention that the fungicide was contaminated and said Mr. Crawford's
announcement had nothing to do with the settlement, which it said
had been negotiated over months.
Farmers welcomed the announcement. "I'm terribly relieved,"
said Carol Murphy, a fern grower in DeLand who was among those who
settled. "It's been a long road, and I'm just happy it's all
over. I can get on with life."
The 220 growers involved are represented by Kevin Malone, a lawyer
from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who won in two jury trials against DuPont
last year. Mr. Malone said 110 growers were from Florida, 25 from
the Caribbean or Costa Rica and the rest from Hawaii.
Victory in Blueberry Case
In the last year four juries in Florida and one in Arkansas have
found Benlate® responsible for crop losses, but the awards were
generally smaller than the amounts that the farmers sought. The largest
award was in Arkansas, where 30 vegetable farmers were awarded $10.65
million, of which $3 million was for punitive damages.
The lone court victory for DuPont was in February, when a jury in
Florida found the company not liable for $5.5 million in damages sought
by a group of blueberry farmers in Lakeland.
The total of $476 million in after tax costs beyond DuPont's Insurance
coverage makes the Benlate® case the most expensive pesticide
recall. Mr. Schmutz, the DuPont lawyer, said "This is a sad commentary that
once again illustrates just how badly this country's tort law system
is out of control."
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