$1.5M awarded in second rice trial

A St. Louis jury today found Germany-based Bayer Cropscience AG and several of its affiliates negligent in the second of several "bellwether trials" scheduled for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, and awarded a total of $1.5 million to two Arkansas long-grain rice farmers and one in Mississippi whose crops and their livelihood, the jury determined, were harmed by Bayer's genetically modified rice.

Joe and Jim Penn, of Portia, Ark., were awarded $480,692 in compensatory damages and fellow Arkansas rice farmer Jerry Catt, of Corning, Ark., was awarded $96,996 in compensatory damages. Black Dog Planting Co., of Lyon, Miss., represented by partner Gary Goode, was awarded $923,154 in compensatory damages.

The suit was brought on behalf of the rice farmers based on economic damages they suffered from contamination of their crops by an unapproved genetically modified strain of rice seed produced by Bayer. Discovery of the contamination led to a dramatic drop in U.S. rice prices, as the European Union stopped purchasing the U.S. rice. The farmers suffered economic loss due to the much lower demand for their rice since 2006, when the contaminated rice was discovered.

The trial, which began Jan. 11, is the second of five scheduled "bellwether" - or test - trials scheduled by U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Perry that involves rice farmers in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. These trials represent the first step Perry ordered in hearing the multi-district litigation involving some 6,000 rice producers in those five states. St. Louis attorney Don Downing, of the firm Gray, Ritter & Graham, was the plaintiffs' lead attorney in the first two cases and is co-lead counsel of the multi-district litigation.

"We're pleased that another jury returned verdicts in favor of our clients and their family farming operations. A second consecutive verdict against Bayer should send a clear and strong message to the company about its negligent conduct and the damages that conduct actually caused to American rice farmers, not only in this case but in the other matters that are scheduled for trial," Downing said.

The jury used the same formula in awarding compensatory damages due to the price drop for all plaintiffs. The awards varied because they were based on the number of acres each farmer planted and the impact of the contamination on their land.

More test trials involving Bayer and rice farmers are scheduled for this summer in the same federal courtroom and will include farmers from Louisiana and Texas.