Don Downing Leads $1.51 Billion Settlement for U.S. Corn Farmers in Historic Syngenta GMO Litigation

Syngenta AG began selling its Agrisure Viptera corn seed to American farmers in 2011. The seed contained the genetically modified MIR162 trait, which had not yet received import approval from China, then one of the largest buyers of U.S. corn. Syngenta pressed ahead with commercialization anyway, and by 2013 the modified trait had spread into the broader U.S. corn supply through cross-pollination and commingling at grain elevators.

In November 2013, Chinese inspectors detected the unapproved trait in a shipment and banned all U.S. corn imports. The blockade lasted until China finally granted approval in 2014, but by then corn prices had already collapsed. The economic fallout spread across the entire American corn chain: farmers who had never planted Viptera saw their crop priced into a diminished market. Grain handling facilities and ethanol plants were caught in the same downturn.

Lawsuits from farmers across eight states were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation in the District of Kansas. Judge John W. Lungstrum appointed four attorneys as national co-lead and class counsel. Don Downing of Gray, Ritter and Graham was one of the four, alongside William Chaney, Patrick Stueve, and Scott Powell. The first trial to reach a jury involved more than 7,000 Kansas corn growers. In June 2017, the Kansas federal jury found for the farmers and returned a verdict of $217.7 million, the first of what could have been many sequential trials.

With the Kansas verdict on the record, the parties negotiated a nationwide resolution. On March 12, 2018, co-lead counsel announced a $1.51 billion settlement covering all U.S. corn growers, crop-share landlords, grain handling facilities, and ethanol plants that sold corn at prices set after September 15, 2013. Judge Lungstrum granted final approval on December 7, 2018. The settlement is considered the largest agricultural class action settlement in U.S. history.

The agreement did not constitute an admission of liability by Syngenta. Separate litigation brought by large grain exporters such as Cargill and ADM was not covered by the class settlement and proceeded on its own track.