Dole Food Company has announced that it has signed a definitive settlement agreement with law firm Provost & Umphrey, which it has said will bring to an end all lawsuits brought against Dole entities by foreign workers claiming injuries from exposure to the chemical DBCP over 30 years ago.
According to Dole, the settlement includes five lawsuits in the US and 33 in Nicaragua, which includes all Nicaragua judgments and plaintiff claims associated with Provost & Umphrey.
Nicaraguan banana plantation workers had claimed that they were made sterile by exposure to agricultural pesticide DBCP, which Dole continued to use even though it was banned in the US.
Some of the plantation workers' lawsuits were dismissed when the judge in the case concluded that many sterility tests were faked and some Nicaraguan plaintiffs had been recruited without working on a banana plantation, while other lawsuits continued.
The 33 Nicaraguan cases represent some US$9bn in claimed damages and, in seven of those, two judgments coming to US$907.5m – although Dole will not fund the settlement with any payments until certain conditions are satisfied, such as a signed release from each plaintiff, dismissals of cases and judgments, and a good faith settlement determination by the Los Angeles Superior Court that is presiding over four of the US cases.
'Dole appreciates the commitment by Provost & Umphrey and their clients to resolving this long-standing dispute and looks forward to completing the full implementation of the settlement,' said Michael Carter, Dole's executive vice-president, general counsel and corporate secretary. 'The professionalism exemplified by Provost & Umphrey made possible this tremendous accomplishment.
'This settlement is a business-based solution to this dispute, without any causal connection between DBCP and the plaintiffs' allegations,' he added. 'It furthers Dole's plan to find possible business-based solutions for all DBCP claims, even though there is no reliable scientific basis for alleged injuries from the agricultural field application of DBCP.'
Full implementation is expected to occur by the end of the year, with the settlement not expected to have any material impact on Dole's financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
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