WARSAW — Farmers from all over Kosciusko County attended town hall presentation, Friday, Sept. 4, on a lawsuit being filed against Syngenta. The event was held at the new Creighton Crazy Egg Cafe, Warsaw.

The lawsuit seeks to recover damages to the U.S. corn market from the introduction of the GMO corn and rejection by major countries. This caused the corn price to drop 25 percent or more, resulting in damages to farmers and others.

Attorney Michael Watts explains the issues and procedures. (Photos by Deb Patterson)

The meeting was hosted by Chad Miner, Miner and Lemon, Warsaw, and Jason Reese, Wagner Reese, Carmel, in conjunction with Watts Guerra LLP, Texas. The law firm is representing not only corn farmers, but others with a financial interest in the sale and price of corn: silo owners, landowners renting farmland to farmers and more. Each county is represented by a local attorney working with Reese as local contacts for Watts.

Michael Watts is among five attorneys from his office traveling the United States conducting five meetings a day with local farmers to explain the issues and offer the opportunity for those affected to sign up. To date over 28,000 of the 450,000 plus farmers,landowners, grain owners are participating.

Watts spent 30 minutes going over three subjects: why a lawyer from Texas is talking about corn farming; his background and how he became involved; and a synopsis of the dispute. He also went over a one-page contract of employment interested individuals can sign to be a part of the litigation. There was also a time for questions.

Watts stated what the case is not about is that Agrisure Viptera, or MIR162, did not work or a political attack on GMOs, but economic realities corn farmers have had to live with – the different attitudes and rules about GMOs, and the export market where attitudes are different about GMOs than others.

He went over the history of the issue, which started in 2009 with the approach by Syngenta to the United States Department of Agriculture to sell the corn seed, not yet approved by the export markets. There was concern at the time that if the seed entered the export market, the prices would drop. Syngenta made promises to the USDA, which eventually were broken.

Watts stated he has documentation Syngenta knew if the corn entered the export market there would be a lot of problems. The documents came from an earlier lawsuit filed by an Iowa export company and memos from the National Grain and Feed Association stating Syngenta should not sell the corn seed until all their ducks were in a row.

The company decided to take a chance. By 2013 over $875 million in Agrisure Viptera was sold. But they didn’t tell those buying the seed it should not be commingled with other varieties. The corn was commingled and discovered in 2013 by China when regulatory officials began rejecting cargo shipments, which tested positive for the presence of Viptera corn.

Those involved with the corn market wanting to participate must sign the simple contract of employment form before Nov. 19, 2015, due to a two-year statue of limitations. The attorneys involved are working on a contingency fee. No participant will ever get a bill. He also stated a negotiated percentage, i.e. 95 percent, must agree before the case is settled.

Watts is expecting the case to be brought to trial in January 2017. Depending upon the direction of the clients the case will either be filed in Minnesota state court, or a federal court in Kansas.

For more details and information individuals can visit IndianaCornLawsuits.com

To sign up to be a part of the litigation click here.