DBCP Verdict in Los Angeles

Torts Prof has a post on a recent verdict in California in the DBCP litigation, with links to news accounts.  Dow Chemical Co. and Dole Food Co. were held liable for $3 million in compensatory damages to six plaintiffs.  The jury decided against six other plaintiffs, finding no causation.  The trial then moved to a punitive damages phase.  DBCP (dibromochloropropane) is a pesticide that was used in the 1970s on banana plantations around the globe, and was discontinued when studies linked it to infertility.  The DBCP litigation has been going on for some time; I worked on a piece of it in the early 1990s as an outside lawyer for Del Monte.

HME