Corn farmers who have joined the Syngenta multidistrict litigation over claims that Syngenta’s genetically modified seed contaminated the U.S. corn market are trying to stop the company from removing some of the bellwether cases that were already finalized.

The corn producers allege that this upcoming attempt by Syngenta to strike 15 of the 48 bellwether cases centralized in the Kansas federal court cannot be described as anything other than “sandbagging.”

Corn farmers learned of Syngenta’s attempt to strike the bellwether cases and filed a memorandum stating that the action is baseless.

According to Syngenta, the 15 bellwether cases were either not part of the multidistrict litigation yet or had only joined the day before. The corn farmers argued that there is no rule that selected bellwether cases must have been filed before a certain day.

The corn producers further claim that they need those cases to fully represent all types of farms that were affected by the alleged GMO tainting including the location and size of farm.

Corn farmers state that the cases that Syngenta is trying to remove include ones with large acreage. They claim that the cases that Syngenta selected for bellwether trials involved smaller farms including one that only grew seven acres and another that grew 11 acres of corn.

Whereas, the corn producers selected Syngenta GMO corn lawsuits that involved farms that grew less than 1,000 acres to more than 2,000 acres and some of these larger farms are the GMO corn lawsuits that Syngenta is trying to strike.

According to the corn farmers, removing 15 cases at this point will not only delay the progress of the MDL but cause additional work.

“Thus, striking plaintiffs’ selections not only causes unnecessary delay, but deprives the pool of its needed representativeness, which creates the very prejudice Syngenta originally claimed it was trying to avoid,” the corn producers stated.

Corn Market News

This is not the first time that Syngenta has attempted to appeal certain aspects of the multidistrict litigation.

In recent agricultural news, Syngenta also sought an overall appeal to allow the MDL to move forward. Syngenta argued that the judge overseeing the MDL on the issue of “novel” questions of law.

However, the 1,400 Syngenta lawsuits presided over by U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum, was approved by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation earlier this year, which transferred Syngenta GMO corn lawsuits from all across the country into a centralized location. 

In Ag news over the summer, three master complaints joined the Syngenta MDL. The plaintiffs included corn farmers, non-producers and milo growers who all claim they suffered financial loss due to the alleged premature release of the Viptera corn seed.

Syngenta spent five years and $20 million to develop a GMO corn seed known as MIR162, according to court documents. The new corn seed was designed to provide a better defense against corn pests including black cutworms.

However, the third largest U.S. corn importer China ended up not approving Viptera MIR162 corn imports and decided to block any corn that showed traces of MIR162.

Corn farmers, corn exporters and corn brokers claim to have lost a collective $1-$3 billion because of the alleged premature release of the Syngenta corn seed.

The Syngenta Multidistrict Litigation is In re: Syngenta AG MIR 162 Corn Litigation, Case No. 2:14-md-0259, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.