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Jury Awards $265 Million To Bader Farms in Lawsuit Against Bayer, BASF

A federal jury found in favor of Bader Farms on all counts in a lawsuit against Bayer and BASF. On Friday, the jury awarded $15 million of the requested $20.9 million in damages requested by Bader Farms. On Saturday, the jury also awarded Bader Farms $250 million in punitive damages.

February 14, 2020 | Source: Midwest Center | by Johnathan Hettinger

A federal jury found in favor of Bader Farms on all counts in a lawsuit against Bayer and BASF.

On Friday, the jury awarded $15 million of the requested $20.9 million in damages requested by Bader Farms. 

On Saturday, the jury also awarded Bader Farms $250 million in punitive damages.

The verdicts come at the end of a three-week trial of a case filed by Missouri’s largest peach farm against German agribusiness giants BASF and Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018, over damage allegedly caused by their pesticide dicamba.

“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict.  While we have empathy for Mr. Bader, Monsanto’s products were not responsible for the losses sought in this lawsuit and we look forward to appealing the decision,” Bayer said in a statement shortly after Saturday’s verdict was issued.

Campbell-based Bader Farms alleges that BASF and Monsanto knew their dicamba-related products would cause damage to other farms and released them anyway to increase demand for their products.