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Cases / Pesticides and agrochemicals · United States · 2020–2022

Jury awards $250 million punitive damages over dicamba drift, later overturned

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 1 not measured See the gaps

A US federal jury held Monsanto and BASF liable over dicamba drift that damaged a farm and awarded $250 million in punitive damages. The punitive award was cut and then overturned, while liability was upheld. Dicamba drift damages neighbouring crops.

What?
A 2020 federal jury held Monsanto and BASF liable for dicamba drift damage to a farm and awarded $15 million in compensatory and $250 million in punitive damages.
Where?
United States (federal courts; dicamba-tolerant soybean fields)
When?
Jury verdict 2020; punitive award cut to $60 million; appeal ruling 2022 Farm Progress
Who?
Gained
  • Monsanto and BASF — Sold the dicamba system; Xtend soybean planting reached about 44 million acres in 2018
Lost
None on record
Harmed
  • Bader Farms — Crops damaged by dicamba drift from neighbouring fields; liability was upheld on appeal Farm Progress
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Dicamba drifted from treated fields onto a neighbouring farm. The jury found the companies had formed a joint venture and conspiracy over the dicamba system.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

In 2020 a US federal jury awarded $15 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages over dicamba drift onto a farm, and found that Monsanto and BASF had formed a joint venture and conspiracy over the dicamba system.

Internal Monsanto documents presented at trial anticipated that drift complaints might happen, according to Investigate Midwest.

The punitive award was first reduced to $60 million and then overturned on appeal in 2022, while other rulings were upheld, according to Farm Progress.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    1. 2020Reduced on appeal
      Bader Farms dicamba drift verdict
      US federal courts (multidistrict litigation and appeal) · Civil · Bader Farms → Monsanto; BASF

      The jury held the companies liable and awarded $250 million in punitive damages. The punitive award was first reduced to $60 million and then overturned on appeal in 2022, with other rulings upheld. Farm Progress

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • None on record The sources reviewed do not state the date of the reduction to $60 million.
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not name the trial judge.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Law and courts

    Punitive damages
    Money a court orders a defendant to pay to punish especially reckless conduct, on top of compensation for losses. Mainly used in US courts.
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