More than a thousand Syngenta corn lawsuits were remanded to state courts by U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum in Kansas who rejected Syngenta’s argument for keeping the cases in federal court.

There are more than 1,800 plaintiffs who have taken legal action against Syngenta, including farmers, grain elevator owners, exporters, and other American corn representatives. Plaintiffs allege Syngenta sold them unapproved genetically modified (GMO) corn, long before China’s export authorities approved the corn for import.

Overview of Syngenta Corn Allegations

The GMO corn, Viptera MIR 162, had been planted by a small number of corn farmers, but due to corn storage and shipping methods the GMO-tainted corn was sent to China.

Because China rejected Viptera corn from being imported, all of the corn that had traces of it was rejected and the result was major damage to the United States corn market.

Viptera corn is a genetically developed strain meant to better protect corn against pests inclduing ear worms and black cutworms. According to legal records, Syngenta had began selling the Viptera corn to farmers in the United States between 2010 to 2011, when it was approved in several other countries, including Brazil and Argentina.

At the time, Syngenta had submitted the Viptera corn for import approval by the Chinese government, and were expecting a positive response.

According to court documents, Syngenta said Chinese regulators approved the GMO corn strain in 2010, allegedly misleading American farmers to buy and plant Viptera corn. The Chinese government turned down the Viptera corn due to the country’s efforts to increase efforts to live a healthier and organic lifestyle.

This discrepancy caused an estimated $1 billion to $3 billion in damages. Before the release of the Viptera corn seed, China had been the third largest importer of corn for the United States, averaging 2.5 million tons per years. In 2014, Chinese import sales of corn were down to a total of 375,000 tons, which is an 85% decrease in the market.

Syngenta denies all allegations made against the company. The company claims the price of the corn had been falling for months prior to China’s ban, which the company claims was not due to the GMO corn, but the country’s own corn supply complications.

Syngenta lawsuits allege the company deliberately misled farmers into buying the corn and accuse the company of false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.