Louisiana Crawfish Crop Losses and
Aventis ICON Class Action

Introduction

With co-counsel, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, represents a class of crawfish farmers in Louisiana who have suffered tremendous losses in their pond-grown crawfish crops, allegedly as the result of the use of ICON, a pesticide manufactured by Aventis CropSciences USA, LLP ("Aventis"). The pesticide was used to combat the rice water weevil. Plaintiffs allege, however, that ICON is toxic to crawfish and caused the decline in the crawfish crop.

Relationship Between Rice and Crawfish Farming

Over 1,500 crawfish farmers operate in Louisiana, many of whom also farm rice in the same ponds or in close proximity to crawfish ponds. The rotation patterns for the two crops vary, but water that has been used in a rice field, called tailwater, is sometimes used to irrigate crawfish ponds. After planting rice, tailwater is also often discharged into surrounding ditches and canals, which downstream crawfish farmers may retrieve and introduce to their ponds.

Plaintiffs' Allegations

In 1999, Aventis introduced ICON into the Louisiana market without, plaintiffs assert, adequate testing and without considering how ICON would interact with the rice/crawfish rotation system used in Louisiana. ICON is applied to rice seeds by seed distributors, some of whom are also named as Defendants. The farmers filed suit against the manufacturers and sellers of the pesticide ICON (active ingredient fipronil) for losses in their pond-grown crawfish crops allegedly caused by the pesticide.

Case Status

On May 17, 2004, Judge James T. Genovese, of the 27th Judicial District Court, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, granted final approval to a $45 million settlement of the class action lawsuit. The settlement was reached after the parties had presented nearly a month's worth of evidence at trial, and were on the verge of making closing arguments to the jury.

"The settlement is a fair resolution for Louisiana's crawfish farmers. Farmers who suffered tremendous declines in their crawfish crops allegedly due to the contamination of their ponds with fipronil have had their day in court and will now be compensated," commented Patrick C. Morrow of Morrow, Morrow, Ryan & Bassett and trial counsel for plaintiffs.

Class Counsel in the case also included Vance Andrus, Richard Arsenault, Dawn Barrios, Kirk A. Guidry, Bruce Kingsdorf, Gano Lemoine, Hunter Lundy, and Matt Lundy.

Notice of the Settlement

The notice summarizes the terms of the settlement, describes the claims process to determine how the settlement funds will be distributed, sets forth how and by what date people can object to the settlement, and provides other relevant deadlines. To read the notice of the settlement, please click here.

Class members should also visit www.lacrawfishcase.com or call toll free 1-866-942-3634 to learn more about the settlement.

In entering into the settlement, defendants admitted no liability for the damages allegedly suffered by class members.

Additional Documents

Order of Preliminary Approval of Proposed Settlement
Receipt, Release and Confirmation of SA
Final Order and Judgment
Joint Motion
Exhibit 4 (Liens)
Escrow Agreement

[All documents are in Adobe Acrobat pdf format]

Class Definition

On August 28, 2002, the Louisiana Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's class certification of a class, defined by the following three subclasses:

Subclass 1: All persons or legal entities from January of 1999 who purchased ICON-treated seed for the planting of rice or for crawfish operations in the State of Louisiana and who allege financial loss and damages as a result of said crop's exposure to ICON;

Subclass 2: All persons or legal entities from January of 1999 who farm crawfish in the State of Louisiana and who allege financial loss and damages to their respective crawfish crop as a result of said crop's exposure to ICON;

Subclass 3: All persons or legal entities from January of 1999 who participated in a sharecropping arrangement for the farming of crawfish in the State of Louisiana and who allege financial loss and damages as a result of its crawfish farmers' crop exposure to ICON.

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Louisiana Crawfish Crop Losses and Aventis ICON Class Action

Louisiana Crawfish Crop Losses and
Aventis ICON Class Action