Dole

US-based Dole is looking to reverse US$2bn in verdicts against it and other companies for pesticide poisoning on the back of the recent dismissal of a case against the company.

Superior court judge Victoria Chaney dismissed with prejudice two lawsuits against Dole by Nicaraguan labourers who claimed that they had been made sterile by the chemical dibromochloropropane (DBCP) while working on Dole-contracted banana farms in the 1970's, according to press reports in the US.

Judge Chaney said that the claims were based on false testimonies from coached witnesses, and added that she had found a systematic effort to defraud Dole and other companies by US and Nicaraguan attorneys, as well as Nicaraguan judges.

'Contrary to their sworn testimony, most of the plaintiffs never worked on Dole-affiliated banana farms and none were involved in the DBCP application process,' said judge Chaney in her written opinion. 'The plaintiffs and their counsel were part of a broader conspiracy that permeates all DBCP litigation arising from Nicaragua.'

As a result, Dole is set to use Judge Chaney's rulings to battle against a US$98.5m verdict in Miami federal court, and the ruling could eventually affect judgements in up to 32 lawsuits in Nicaraguan courts since 2002, totalling US$2.05bn against the company as well as manufacturers of DBCP, Bloomberg reported.

'I'm not prepared to say federal courts will take judge Chaney's order as gospel, but no federal court in its right mind would refuse to consider the state court's questions with regard to fraud,' Edward Smith, professor of international law at the University of Southern California, told Bloomberg.