Tenth Circuit Affirms Attorneys’ Fees Awarded in Historic Class Action Settlement Co-Led by Gray Reed
HOUSTON – On February 28, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed a Kansas district court’s allocation of attorneys’ fees and expense awards stemming from the “historic class action settlement” reached with Syngenta in 2018.
The lawsuit was based on claims that Switzerland-based Syngenta’s premature marketing of its genetically modified strains of corn, led to the loss of an important market for U.S. corn, causing them economic harm. The $1.51 billion settlement that covered payments to eligible U.S. corn farmers, grain handling facilities and ethanol production facilities is believed to be the largest agricultural settlement in U.S. history.
“We were honored to have been part of the Kansas MDL leadership team representing farmers and others that Judge Lungstrum recognized, and the 10th Circuit affirmed, had made ‘many contributions to the ultimate settlement recovery’ in this historic litigation,” Gray Reed Partner Bill Chaney, one of four co-lead counsel, says. “This decision should be the final step in what has been a long and hard-fought battle to finalize all issues related to the class action settlement.”
A copy of the 10th Circuit’s 179-page opinion is available here.
Gray Reed and other members of the leadership team are still involved in one claim against Syngenta asserted outside of the class action settlement.
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