Judge Strikes DuPont Defenses in $60M Benlate Litigation Due to Discovery Fraud
Saying that DuPont engaged in “a deliberate scheme to interfere” with the court’s rulings during more than a decade of litigation over damage allegedly done to Ecuadorian shrimp beds by the company’s Benlate fungicide, a Florida judge has struck the chemical manufacturer’s defenses in two companion cases.
Attorney Robert McKee of Krupnick Campbell Malone Buser Slama Hancock Liberman & McKee in Fort Lauderdale says he will be seeking more than $30 million in compensatory damages for each client in the two cases, plus punitive damages. The ruling by Broward Circuit Judge Charles Greene potentially adds tens of millions more dollars to the pot, he tells the Daily Business Review, because the judge said DuPont must also pay the plaintiffs’ attorney fees for time wasted by inaccurate and misleading discovery responses.
McKee describes the June 11 ruling as “sweet vindication for years of hard work trying to find the truth,” the publication reports.
Attorney Thomas Sherouse of Shook Hardy & Bacon in Miami represents DuPont. He says the company was disappointed by Greene’s ruling and intends to appeal the sanctions, at the proper time. DuPont also hopes to introduce evidence in the damages phase of the cases, which are set for trial in January.
The plaintiffs allege that Benlate runoff from nearby banana farms damaged their shrimp beds.
