Corn sold to the public
Paul Lesko and Brandon Wise, of the Simmons Hanly Conroy firm in East Alton, ardently adopted the Chinese position in a suit they filed in September.
They wrote that Syngenta tested, grew, stored, transported, and sold Viptera corn “without adequate precautions to prevent contamination of the U.S. corn and corn seed supplies.”
“Syngenta has unreasonably interfered with the public’s right to expect compliance with the federal laws governing the growing, storing, transporting, selling, disposing, or otherwise disseminating Viptera corn,” they wrote.
Syngenta “interfered with the public’s right to expect that the corn sold to the general public is free from contamination,” they wrote. And, it interfered “with the public’s right to be notified of whether the corn sold to the public is contaminated with genetically modified organisms.”
The lawyers also wrote that the interference involved “the public health, the public safety, the public peace, the public comfort, or the public convenience.”
“It is also unreasonable in that is proscribed by law, is of a continuing nature, and has produced a permanent or long lasting effect,” they wrote.
The Judicial Panel on Multi District Litigation will consider consolidating the suits on Dec. 4.
Syngenta owners know how to litigate the issue, because for three years they have pursued a false advertising claim against grain elevators that stopped taking Viptera corn.