A group of Louisiana farmers have filed a Syngenta lawsuit alleging the corporation fraudulently misrepresented that their GMO corn seed would be approved by the nation’s third largest corn importer – China.

Lead plaintiff Mark M. filed the Syngenta corn lawsuit on behalf of himself and multiple other farmers who claim they suffered a serious financial loss when China ended up rejecting the genetically modified corn seed Viptera.

The plaintiffs allege that although the MIR162 corn seed was only planted on about 3 percent of U.S. acres, Syngenta encouraged farmers to plant the GMO seeds side-by-side which inevitably led to commingling. The GMO corn lawsuit states that Syngenta knew that side-by-side planting of Viptera and non-Viptera corn seeds would lead to intermixing but instead of trying to prevent it, the company promoted the practice, “essentially ensuring the contamination by commingling.”

Mark and the group of Louisiana farmers have accused Syngenta of wrongful conduct by not only knowing that the cross-pollination and commingling of the GMO corn seed would be impossible to prevent but also misleading farmers into believing that Chinese approval of Viptera corn was “imminent.”

GMO Corn Lawsuit Overview

According to the Syngenta lawsuit, the U.S. corn market is commodity based, which means that farmers harvest, consolidate and then ship their product to regional distribution centers where the corn is then exported to foreign countries. The plaintiffs allege that using this type of system makes it “vital that the U.S. corn supply and exports maintain the highest standards of purity and integrity.”

The Louisiana farmers claim that Syngenta provided no warning that the GMO corn would need to be segregated in elevators from other U.S. corn, so even corn that did not use the Viptera seed became contaminated.

China’s decision to ban all U.S. corn with even traces of MIR162 effectively blocked all corn exports to the country, and the Louisiana farmers say the economic effect was crippling.

The plaintiffs claim that by Syngenta misleading them into believing that China would approve the GMO corn, U.S. farmers lost upwards of $3 billion. They allege that had farmers been made aware that the third largest corn importer might reject the product, they would not have taken the risk. The farmers claim that “a reasonable person would attach importance to the existence or nonexistence of Chinese regulatory approval in determining his choice of action.”

The Syngenta lawsuit is seeking more than $75,000 in financial compensation for the group of Louisiana farmers.

Syngenta Corn

Syngenta designed and marketed the genetically modified corn seed Viptera to U.S. farmers in 2010. The new corn seed was marketed as having a better defense against common corn pests including black cutworms and earworms. U.S. farmers bought the new seed based on Syngenta’s assurances that China’s approval of the GMO corn seed was close at hand.

According to the plaintiffs, Syngenta intentionally misinformed farmers and the general public during a first quarter 2012 earnings conference call, when Syngenta CEO Michael Mack stated “[t]here isn’t outstanding approval for China, which we expect to have quite frankly within the matter of a couple days… we know of no issue with that whatsoever….” Despite Syngenta’s claims, China did not approve the GMO corn seed which created a domino effect for the U.S. corn industry.

When China banned U.S. corn, sales around the world reportedly dropped by 85 percent.

Syngenta Lawsuits

Corn farmers across the United States continue to file lawsuits alleging Syngenta failed to warn and recklessly disregarded the consequences of a potential export ban of their GMO product. More than 10,000 Syngenta lawsuits have been filed by farmers, corn brokers, and corn exporters. If you were adversely effected by China’s ban on U.S. corn, contact an attorney to find out if you have legal claim.

The Syngenta Lawsuit is Case No. 3:15-cv-01986-RGJ-KLH in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Monroe Division.