Syngenta Pursues Appeal

Syngenta is challenging a federal judge's ruling that creates a major class of farmers who could have been damaged as part of the ongoing lawsuit on Viptera corn.  Syngenta filed an appeal last week with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver over a case in which corn farmers are seeking more than $5 billion in damages against the company.  "The decision below certified nine classes collectively seeking over $5 billion in damages on novel and dubious theories that Chinese rules on genetically modified (GM) traits for corn seeds should have dictated defendants' practices in the U.S.," Syngenta stated in its request for appeal.  Syngenta is dealing with multiple lawsuits claiming the company should have inspected and prevented harvested Viptera (MIR 162) corn from being shipped to China in 2013 and 2014. Plaintiffs in the case allege Syngenta sold Agrisure Viptera and Duracade, causing significant losses to corn farmers across the country.  All farmers in the United States who priced corn for sale after Nov. 18, 2013, were approved as a major class in the ongoing lawsuit filed against Syngenta, according to an order issued by a judge in the U.S. District Court in Kansas last month.