Suit Charges Pesticide Damaged Crawfish Farms
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Suit Charges Pesticide Damaged Crawfish Farms
Date:
Tue, 17 Sep 2002 12:43:24 -0400
From:
Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide
Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Suit Charges Pesticide Damaged Crawfish Farms
OPELOUSAS, Louisiana, September 13, 2002 (ENS) - A federal appeals court has ruled that crawfish farmers can proceed with a class action suit seeking damages for the loss of their crawfish which they claim were killed by ICON, a pesticide made by Aventis. After a four day trial before St. Landry Parish District Court Judge James Genovese last year, the court found that the crawfish farmers could proceed as a class against Aventis, the manufacturer of the pesticide ICON, and seed distributors who coated ICON on rice seed. The defendants appealed Judge Genovese's ruling, but the Third Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the class certification this week.
Opelousas attorney Pat Morrow, one of the lawyers representing the farmers, said the decision is a victory for hundreds of Louisiana's crawfish farmers whose crops were damaged by ICON.
"Allowing the crawfish farmers to proceed as a class action against those parties responsible for the damages will level the playing field," Morrow said. "A rural crawfish farmer now has the ability to litigate against Aventis, a well financed multinational corporation. The class action procedure will allow all the farmers to join together to present evidence of legal and factual issues that are common to all crawfish farmers."
"It is also reassuring that the Court of Appeal found no errors committed during the lengthy trial by Judge Genovese, and further, that Judge Genovese was particularly suitable for managing this class action lawsuit," Morrow added.
The original lawsuit was filed in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, in 2000. The crawfish farmers allege that the pesticide ICON (Fipronil) devastated Louisiana's 2000 and 2001 crawfish crop after its introduction on the rice seed in 1999. In 2000, Louisiana's crawfish production dropped from 41million pounds to 16 million pounds.
Although ICON's purpose is to kill the water weevil, an enemy of the rice crop, farmers and experts testified at trial that it also kills crawfish. The crawfish farmers testified that once their fields were contaminated by ICON, there was a widespread crawfish kill.
Although Aventis and the seed distributor defendants contend that ICON is safe, studies conducted by aquaculture experts and the Louisiana State University Ag Center suggest otherwise. Once ICON coated rice seeds are planted in the fields, ICON contaminates the water and sediment in which the crawfish feed. Scientists say ICON and its degradates will remain in the sediment and may continue to cause damage crawfish production for years to come.
"Although Defendants will exhaust all appellate remedies available to stop us proceeding as a class, we are preparing to go forward at the first available trial date," said Hunter Lundy of Lundy Davis, co-counsel representing crawfish farmers. "We are aware that the crawfish farmers suffered financial losses as a result of ICON and they deserve their day in court."
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