$750 Million Settlement in Bayer Rice Litigation

Under the leadership of Don Downing at Gray Ritter Graham, a $750 million settlement was reached on behalf of thousands of U.S. rice farmers in multidistrict litigation with Bayer Cropscience asserting contamination of United States rice supply by genetically modified rice.    The settlement followed years of hard-fought litigation including multiple successful “bellwether” trials involving farmers from Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  Downing, lead trial counsel, also lead the settlement negotiations.  GRG’s Gretchen Garrison, also trial counsel, was lead appellate counsel in three appeals from judgments in the bellwether cases pending at the time of settlement.