Kansas $217.7 Million Syngenta Verdict Named Top Verdict by AAJ

The American Association for Justice as named the $217.7 million verdict in the Kansas corn farmers’ lawsuit against Syngenta (Syngenta AG MIR 162 Corn Litigation, D. Kan., 2:14-MD-02591-JWL- JPO 6/27/2017) as one of the Top Verdicts of 2017. 

Gray Ritter Graham attorney Don Downing was one of four co-lead plaintiffs’ counsel leading the litigation. Other Gray Ritter attorneys representing the plaintiffs were: Gretchen Garrison, responsible for the master complaint and one of two leaders of the briefing team which defeated efforts to dismiss claims, secured key summary judgment rulings in favor of plaintiffs, overcame pre-and post-trial motions to defeat the bellwether verdict, secured settlement approval and successfully defended it on appeal; Kaitlin Bridges, and Jack Downing were members of the document review/coding team; Kaitlin served as second chair to Don at multiple executive and expert depositions and also at trial in presenting and cross-examining economic experts.

As a Top Verdict of 2017, the AAJ included the opening statements, closing arguments, transcripts and other material from the trial in materials it distributed to its members.  The Kansas litigation was the first of eight state class action lawsuits certified in the Syngenta corn Multi-District Litigation.  In March 2018, a preliminarily approved settlement of $1.51 billion was reached in the nationwide class action lawsuit.  The AAJ  promotes a fair and effective justice system and supports the work of trial attorneys in their efforts to ensure that any person who is injured by the misconduct or negligence of others can obtain justice in America’s courtrooms, even when taking on the most powerful interests.

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Posted in News November 27, 2018