A trial date has been set for January 22, 2018 for the Arkansas bellwether trial against Syngenta. This trial comes years after working towards holding Syngenta accountable for contaminating Arkansas’ farmers crops. Emerson Firm, PLLC’s client, Mr. Kenny Falwell, serves as the bellwether trial plaintiff representing Arkansas farmers who have been affected by Syngenta’s genetically modified corn. Mr. Falwell is one of a number of bellwether trial plaintiffs representing farmers in multiple trials across the United States.

There has been a lot of action surrounding the Syngenta class action cases this summer. On June 26th, Syngenta was ordered to pay $217.7 million to a group of Kansas farmers after a Kansas jury issued a verdict after less than a day of deliberations that Syngenta caused five years of depressed corn prices. Not only does this give the Arkansas Syngenta case momentum, it has caused a series of cascading effects.

Just a few days later on July 6th, trial dates were set for the Arkansas and Missouri class cases, the Illinois and Nebraska class case trial, the Iowa and South Dakota class case trial, and the Ohio class trial. However, these are not the only trials Syngenta is facing.

Another individual farmer’s trial was originally set for April in Nebraska but ended in a mistrial when the judge couldn’t find enough jurors. A second trial was scheduled for July 10th but Syngenta settled out of court before the trial for an undisclosed amount with the plaintiff, announced the same day as the other trials were set. This Nebraska case was not a class case, but rather an individual farmer’s case. The Minnesota cases go to trial in August, 2017.

Emerson Firm, PLLC’s client faces the first trial in the class action bellwether cases consolidated by United States District Judge John W. Lungstrum in Kansas City, KS. A bellwether case serves as an indicator for other cases in a large multidistrict litigations. To learn more about the Syngenta Corn Class Action, contact Emerson Firm, PLLC at (501) 286-4622.