MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2007
Los Angeles Jury Punishes Dole Foods Company–Total for Workers Now Exceeds $6 million!
PRESS RELEASEFrom the Law Offices of Juan J. Dominguez, APLC
November 16, 2007
Contact: Ivonne Rodriguez at Juan J. Dominguez, APLC 800-818-1818
Los Angeles Jury Punishes Dole Foods Company, Inc. for Maliciously Sterilizing 5 Poor Nicaraguan Plantation Workers
On November 15, 2007 a Los Angeles jury rendered a punitive damages verdict in the amount of $2,500,000.00 on a finding of malice to punish corporate giant Dole Foods Company, Inc. (“Dole”) in sterilizing 5 Nicaraguan banana plantation workers with the pesticide Dibromochloropropane (“DBCP”) in the 1970s. [Tellez, et. al. v Dole Foods Company, Inc, et. al Los Angeles Superior Court Case #: BC 312852]. Malice in these sterilizations was found by the jury at the higher corporate decision making level of Dole. The Jury also found that Dole fraudulently concealed from these plantation workers the toxic sterilization dangers of the DBCP pesticide. The recovery for the Tellez, et al workers now totals over $6,000,000.00 against Dole and manufacturers The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) and Amvac Chemical Corporation.
Read article from Los Angeles Times about first jury verdict!
Read background material about Nicaraguan banana workers affected by Nemagon!
Several thousands of other sterility cases from Central American plantation workers are pending with the same judge Hon. Victoria Chaney, Department 324, Los Angeles Superior Court, and thousands of other sterility cases against Dole and Dow are also being currently litigated in other countries.
The Bell-Weather Case for Thousands of Filed Sterility Lawsuits has Rung!
“Stain on the honor of Dole.” Paradoxically, Dole Attorney Rick McKnight made an emotional plea to the jury in closing argument, declaring “awarding even a single dollar (raising his index finger in the air) would be a stain on the honor of the good people of Dole,” as he pointed to Dole Chairman and CEO David De Lorenzo. He later argued that, “to find malice you have to find we were vile.” The jury not only awarded significant compensatory damages, but also found Dole acted with malice on a higher standard of proof met by the plantation workers and further punished Dole for such reprehensible conduct awarding the plantation workers additional monetary awards.
Dole's lead lawyer, McKnight, pleaded for mercy from the jury on the final and third phase of the trial, after Dole was found liable for malice, not to punish the “new Dole” for the “old Dole” transgressions because the “new Dole” has changed its ways and that the “new Dole” accepts the jury's verdicts on compensatory damages and malice previously rendered. In contrast to the mea culpa admissions, after the initial compensatory damages verdict of November 5, 2007, that totaled $3,290,800.00 against Dole and Dow, the Vice President of Dole, Michael Carter, defiant following the 4 month trial and 3 week jury deliberations and verdict, was quoted the same day in their Dole company written Press Release, “The six verdicts against Dole are flat wrong and the result of junk science, raw emotional appeals and false testimony…We are appealing to set the record straight.” Michael Carter's reported annual compensation from Dole in 2004 was over $2 million dollars. Dole used legions of the best lawyers and scientific experts from California and other States to defend themselves in this case. Their investigators scoured the Nicaraguan countryside for information and witnesses for years before the trial.
Mr. Carter acknowledged at trial that their newly minted concept of a “new Dole” continues to use the dangerous chemical Paraquat in their plantations long after their competitors have stopped using it because of reported serious health danger to field workers of brain damage. Mr. Carter did not even know what an industrial hygienist was when questioned at trial by plaintiffs' attorney Duane C. Miller or if Dole had one on staff among its over 75,000 employees. He also admitted that Dole did not even have a toxicologist on staff.
The jury rejected the new/old Dole argument in their punitive damage awards against Dole. Plaintiff's attorney Juan J. Dominguez stated, “This is a day of reckoning for Dole and Dow. The consciousness of the community has spoken through this jury. We are gratified with the jury's verdicts, the rule of law, and our American judicial system. This case has set precedent for the thousands of other sterilized workers from around the world that for over 30 years have been denied justice, and provides an impetus for responsible global commerce, and for transnational corporate responsibility. I commend the hard work of this judge and jury and all others in the U.S. and Nicaragua who have fought so hard for justice against these giant multinational corporations for the past 6 years. I particularly commend the excellent work of our trial lawyer Duane C. Miller.”
For Additional Info contact: Ivonne Rodriguez at Juan J. Dominguez, APLC 800-818-1818
E-mail: IRodriguez@JuanJDominguez.com
Labels: Archives