In northeastern Arkansas, soybeans and watermelon have long been important crops. Unfortunately, they are vulnerable to herbicides like dicamba, and current forms of dicamba tend to drift and spread to areas beyond where they’re applied. According to the complaint for this class action, Monsanto and its development partner BASF are responsible for damage to crops on many Arkansas farms, and even for a conspiracy to force farmers to use their own modified seeds to avoid such damage in the future.
The class for this action is all citizens of Arkansas who farm Arkansas lands which have documented dicamba drift onto their farms.
In 2009, Monsanto began partnering with German company BASF to develop a crop system that combined a dicamba herbicide with dicamba-resistant crops. Those companies are the defendants in this case. According to the complaint, however, by 2012, growers were warning about dicamba’s tendency to drift onto neighboring crops and damage crops such as soybeans and watermelon.
In 2015, the USDA authorized Monsanto’s dicamba-tolerant Xtend soybean and cotton seeds for unrestricted commercial planting. However, the complaint says that the dicamba herbicides approved for use at the time were all likely to drift to neighboring crops. In fact, the complaint says, the use of dicamba products has been restricted or prohibited in many areas, which means that defendants Monsanto and BASF should have known about the problems with using those products. Still, they marketed and sold the Xtend seeds, the complaint claims, without any warning or instruction or other limitation to prevent harm to other crops.
The result was damage to the crops of neighboring farms. The complaint alleges that the defendants are responsible for this as the seeds they sold were not merchantable—that is, they were sold even though there was no appropriate herbicide that would not drift and cause damage.
The complaint says that none of the defendants’ product labels contain complete information about the toxicity of dicamba products or directions for use that would protect neighboring crops. In fact, the complaint claims that this would not have been possible, given the nature, patterns, and timing of farming in the region, and that makes the Xtend seeds defective in that their use necessarily poses a risk to other crops in the area.
Furthermore, the complaint claims that the defendants have engaged in a conspiracy to promote their products, since the likelihood of harm to non-dicamba-resistant crops would push farmers into buying dicamba-resistant seeds to avoid damage in the future.
The complaint therefore claims that defendants have violated a number of laws, including those on product liability, warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, and deceptive trade practices.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Monsanto Dicamba Herbicide Damage to Neighboring Farms Complaint
September 20, 2017
In 2015, the USDA authorized Monsanto’s dicamba-tolerant Xtend soybean and cotton seeds for unrestricted commercial planting. However, the complaint says that the dicamba herbicides approved for use at the time were all likely to drift to neighboring crops. Still, it says, defendants Monsanto and BASF marketed and sold the Xtend seeds, the complaint claims, without any warning or instruction or other limitation to prevent harm to other crops. The result was damage to the crops of neighboring farms. According to the complaint, the defendants are responsible for damage to crops on many Arkansas farms and even conspired to force farmers to use their own modified seeds to avoid such damage in the future.
monsanto_dicamba_pesticide_complaint.pdfCase Event History
Monsanto Dicamba Herbicide Damage to Neighboring Farms Complaint
September 20, 2017
In 2015, the USDA authorized Monsanto’s dicamba-tolerant Xtend soybean and cotton seeds for unrestricted commercial planting. However, the complaint says that the dicamba herbicides approved for use at the time were all likely to drift to neighboring crops. Still, it says, defendants Monsanto and BASF marketed and sold the Xtend seeds, the complaint claims, without any warning or instruction or other limitation to prevent harm to other crops. The result was damage to the crops of neighboring farms. According to the complaint, the defendants are responsible for damage to crops on many Arkansas farms and even conspired to force farmers to use their own modified seeds to avoid such damage in the future.
monsanto_dicamba_pesticide_complaint.pdf