Syngenta law suit

I am not sure if this is the place but here goes how many of my fellow farmers got a cap in the mail from an attorney seeking more clients in this class action law suit ?? And how many of you guys have bought into this suit and have signed up with an attorney ?? I hate to say this but my thoughts are the attorneys are going to be the big winners and us the farmers who lost money will get the peanuts if there is any left at the end. All I know is over the past few years the amount of mail, meetings and offers to be represented by people we have never have heard of.

Never got a cap. Got a lot of letters. They all went in the circular file.

I think you figured it out already.... They need lots of people to sign up to make the lawsuit so these few lawyers can make a name for themselves and get rich.

I just filled my out. They will probably be mad as keck when they read what I wrote in it. Can not say it on this site. It just a money maker for the lawyers just like the milk lawsuit. We all know the lawyer and catfish joke!

If you don't sign up the ones that do will get more $$$ as a bigger cut and lawyers get more too.

If you don't sign up you don't get anything. The lawyers get paid, but they also do all the paperwork, file all the forms, do the legwork, and know the law as a result of years of expensive schooling.

I know most lawyers are leaches, but there's some decent ones that work hard for many years and earn their paycheck.

My dad and I both got caps in the mail yesterday but their flyer inside listed meeting around the state of Illinois but guess what half of them were already held and those were the ones closest to me, what a waste of time lol

It was one UGLY cap!!

I threw every single thing away from this pile of crap!!!! They are sponsored by rich tree hugger groups that are trying to stop GMO crop production. YOU need to research who is pushing this suit. They are trying to roll back the clock on GMO seeds. I do not like how a few companies have basically locked up the majority of the seed stock in the US. I do have to say that this technology works as far as production increases. It is not all Round Up ready and weed control. The corn we raise stands better, yields better and with takes drought/stress better. So if you want to go back to raising corn like we had 20 years ago then sign up and get a penny or two just like the "BIG" checks we all got in the small engine horse power suit.

I think class action law suits should be illegal. Lawyers should have to pay for the winners legal bills if they lose. Then we would have many fewer suits. Litigation, like this, is slowly killing this country.

Farmers are getting less money for their crops now. So this group sees this as a way to sign up more FOOLS by making this the reason that the market is lower.

Farmers can and will over produce anything until it is almost worthless before they stop producing it. Farmers as a group are the worse marketing group in the entire economy. We all want it simple. So we grow the majority of our crops and livestock with zero markets locked in. So we HOPE/PRAY that someone will want what we grow when we harvest it. So we have to take whatever someone will give us then rather than producing what is needed at a volume and price that is profitable.

The guys that sign up for this are the same fellows that run to the Farm Service office to sign up for their "Welfare" check from the federal government for over producing crops so the masses have cheap commodities. Good business for the masses but not so good for the farmers.

Out John T is one of the good ones. Hate when all lawyers are lumped as crooks. I agree most are, however the few good ones get a bad rap.

(quoted from post at 07:41:58 01/21/17)

Farmers can and will over produce anything until it is almost worthless before they stop producing it. Farmers as a group are the worse marketing group in the entire economy. We all want it simple. So we grow the majority of our crops and livestock with zero markets locked in. So we HOPE/PRAY that someone will want what we grow when we harvest it. So we have to take whatever someone will give us then rather than producing what is needed at a volume and price that is profitable.

The guys that sign up for this are the same fellows that run to the Farm Service office to sign up for their "Welfare" check from the federal government for over producing crops so the masses have cheap commodities. Good business for the masses but not so good for the farmers.

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Well said JD! I've been saying that for years but I get jumped and guys get mad trying to justify staying with a corn bean rotation. Lot of em support things like ethanol that is now proving to actually cause more environmental damage than it reduces all over greed. The same greed they get angry over at the corporate level. Then they say it's different when a company does it. "Just trying to make a little profit" is the most common excuse. Well guess what, that company is just trying to make a little profit too!

The fewer subsidies they pay the more farmers go broke. Guys gotta get out of the "farming is a way of life" attitude and realize that without subsidies farming is a business and if not treated as such they are not going to make it. In other words there are other crops! You know that if corn was up this year more acres across the country will be planted in corn next year causing the prices to drop.

Then farmers today are specializing in one thing. Beef, or dairy or grain and so on. Really seeing that around here. All their eggs are in one basket! I personally think that maybe these guys need to look at diversification. Yea for the grain farmer that means few aces dedicated to a cash crop but that will help with overproducing in the long run.

After reading a brief summery of this lawsuit I doubt the echo-nuts are behind it. Sounds to me like a farmer who lost his butt on corn that year, and maybe the farm too started it. The lawyer, knowing that if they win, worst case scenario, they guy is going to win the price difference between what corn had been and what the guy got plus any punitive damages they court MAY award. In other words the lawyer can't make anything off it from just one farmer. Kinda like the small engine case. Guy who started it most likely bought a 100 buck mower from Wal Mart. So he has the mower, it works, but he didn't get the HP he paid for. So compensable damages is what, maybe 5 bucks? And you know that the court isn't going to make a big award to punish the companies making those engines. They really didn't hurt anyone. So there is another 5 bucks. Lawyer gets 40-45%? Unless he can get it class action with thousands, maybe millions signing on he can't afford to take the case.

So with this suit (this is speculation on my part) you got a guy who lost the farm when prices tanked. He's hurt and angry. He talks to a lawyer who looks into it a little. He thinks the guy has a case but knows the guy only had 500 acres of corn. So compensable damages is going to be the difference between what corn had been and what the guy got. He also has to know that if the guy lost the farm that he was on the edge and that would come out in court. So the court isn't going to go big on punitive damages because a large part of the failure was due to the farmer. For the lawyer to proceed it has to become a class action suit or the lawyer is going to lose money! NOW THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART! If the company actually is at fault the farmers do deserve compensation. They, the farmers, without this being class action will not get it!

Farming is not a gamble. It's a high risk business. If you treat is as gambling it's going to bite you. But if outside factors contribute to the loss of income like any other American you are guarantied your day in court. But if the money isn't there for you plus the lawyer you won't get that day in court. So class action is a necessary evil. Because you as an individual are not going to represent yourself against a large corporation with a top law firm on retainer and win. And most people after a loss don't have the money to hire a decent lawyer.

Rick

Oldtanker. The seed money the law firms started with on this case came from Kennedy's water keeper group. It was written about in several of the Iowa papers this last year.

I think that monopoly laws should be enforced against these seed/chemical companies. The technology looks to be pretty sound but the corporate side is getting to be a swamp ripe for corruption.

(quoted from post at 08:50:30 01/21/17) Oldtanker. The seed money the law firms started with on this case came from Kennedy's water keeper group. It was written about in several of the Iowa papers this last year.

I think that monopoly laws should be enforced against these seed/chemical companies. The technology looks to be pretty sound but the corporate side is getting to be a swamp ripe for corruption.

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OK, I didn't see that in my quick look up. Got a link to that? But if farmers lost money because Syngenta failed in a duty, I.E. ensuring the crop produced was marketable, then the farmers do deserve compensation.

I do think they need to change how the deal with monopolies. Ma Bell was gouging consumers. That needed to happen! The action taken against the "Big Tree" in the 60's helped potential businesses but hurt the consumer with higher prices. So the courts and the government have to use common sense. The seed/chem companies are hurting the farmers. The government failure to go after them only benefits a small group or the largest operators. So yea, gotta agree with you there.

Rick

Oldtanker IF the average farmer KNEW the way that the current seed and chemical programs were stacked toward the larger operator they would rebel.

IF you buy so many dollars of this chemical and so many dollars of this brand seed you get a rebate at the end of the year equal to 20-30% discount. A good friend is a large farmer and his brothers have large farms too. They combine their seed and chemical orders to maximize their discounts. He showed me the rebate check for last year. It was over $65,000 dollars.

You need to be buying over $100K to even get the first of these "deals" then once you get to a half mill it gets pretty big. So the little 500 acre farmer is going to pay full retail while competing with fellows getting steep discounts. Just another thing driving the farms to get larger.

Wish the govt returned to their job, enforcing the laws they have, instead of creating 100 new ones and don't enforce any.....

Monopolies are hurting this country.

The Syngenta deal is exactly modeled after the old Starlink case from years ago. I guess most folk don't remember Starlink. You can look it up.

I got $88 for the Starlink deal.......

Kinda left out, I haven't gotten a cap or a video playing card like others have for this current deal. Got several postcards from different law firms back a year or two ago when it started.


Paul

I'm sorry but I don't think any lawsuits, class action lawsuits, product liability lawsuits, wrongful injury, wrongful death, benefit anyone in the USA except the US Trial Lawyers. Any industry, medical, agricultural, or manufacturing is going to absorb the costs of these, and the impact on their respective liability or casualty insurance premiums and pass that directly on to the consumers, i.e. Us. There are no guarantees of any outcome in life, especially farming.

The US legal system, Supreme Courts, Federal Courts, Superior Courts, and US Court of Appeals have led the US Society to believe that we can litigate for a desired outcome, if we throw enough financial and legal resources at it. In my mind, this is a large reason that US manufacturing has been driven overseas, off of US soil, which has only hurt the US job market. Much less, it can be variably tied to the rising cost of US Health Care, and the US service industries.

I am not familiar with this particular lawsuit, and its legal elements, however, the increasing number of nuisance lawsuits, the marked expansion of the US legal system, sheer number of attorneys per capita, in the last 40 years, has grown exponentially, while simply look simultaneously at how the number of US jobs and manufacturing have equally declined over that time? I am not simplistic enough to believe that it was simply litigation, but equally labor, benefits, and regulatory conditions had a role, as well, as is often discussed here. While I agree there are some good Attorneys in the US, there equally a large number who are mercenary and inflammatory at best. However, the American people need to accept some responsibility for repeatedly pursuing this litigious behavior, in hopes of inflated jury awards, which ultimately trickle down very little, to anyone but the attorneys.

I agree with the thought that row crops, and livestock prices are often dictated by supply and demand. That simple fact has withstood the test of time. Also, my Mom, and numerous relatives in Kansas, who also farm, had an often favorite saying that to survive in farming, "you need to enjoy the good years, and ride out the bad years." Somewhat simplistic, but I think it meant to have a deep resolve to endure and keep trying, to the best of one's ability, while knowing that not every single year is going to go your way.

Just some post Inauguration thoughts.

Matt

Odd situation here in our area. The most right leaning talk radio station is heavily sponsored by
trial lawyers...asking people to bring them the info so they can sue someone.

The talk of less government and ads for more lawsuits seem at odds.

Every day I read guys on this forum saying we need less government and fewer laws. Then along comes a class action
suit(based on some obscure law) and they climb on board. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but I wish lots of folks were a little more consistent in their thinking....and actions.

When someone says we need fewer laws I say sure...which ones? and Why? That is usually the end of the conversation.

Of course they will.

Class action law suits are all about attorney's fees.

Dean

about a year ago my cousin dad and i were getting paper work about this there was even an infomerical on tv. i was working in town and dad was feeding most of his corn to the cattle so i didnt think we would get to much. cousins finical adviser said he could get $8k or so i never did ask him if he filled out the paper work. to me it sounded like when the state of Minnesota sued the tobacco compannys and won a bunch of money the lawyers got rich the state probably pi$$ed away the money and the people got bupkiss

I wasn't the biggest fan of then Vice President, Dan Quayle, but will give him credit when he spoke at an American Bar Association luncheon and told them that one of the biggest problems plaguing America were that we had (have) too many attorneys and that they don't police themselves. He used an example at the time when he was V.P. that Japan had one attorney for every 50,000 people, but here in America we had (maybe still have) one attorney for every 2,500 people. There isn't a lot of food for attorneys under those conditions, so they have to do what they have to do...Class Action lawsuits where innocent bystanders get dragged into them by association, get a penny or few on the settlement, while the attorneys involved get new houses of the French Riviera. I had to give Quayle a pat for that one. He dove into a shark filled tank and climbed out. Never did learn to spell "potato" though.

Mark

"""""I do think they need to change how the deal with monopolies. Ma Bell was gouging consumers.""""

You just totally rewrote history.

Bell was a government regulated monoply who was totally controlled by the government and the fcc. The profits were highly controlled and regulated for a 30 year payback on all its investements. The were used to provide UNIVERSAL SERVICE to the entire nation, rural and urban. Business' where charged much more than costs so that residences were below cost. The government objective was to build out a national communications system, which could only be done in a protected environment. Otherwise only cities would have phones and rural areas would have NEVER had phones. It was the government who decided to encourage competition in the 70s.. that destroyed the regulated phone system. The competition..... would then only go after the cities and businesses and not do any business in the rural areas. the competition was allowed to reused bell system lines at a loss the the regulated phone company. The regulated phone companies at that point refused to put any more money in a company that allowed the competition to use its lines... at a loss. Western Electric, Bell Labs, Avaya, all where shut down or sold off. All the cable factories and equipment plants were shut down or sold off. The regulated telephone switches running today are using parts from the 1980s and older. So far, no new company has come in and offer to provide telephone switching at a loss, especially to rural areas. The so called ma bell companies have moved on to cellular, fiber, tv, and other businesses where they were allowed to make a profit and not have to sell to its competition... at cost or at an loss. The regulate portion is down to less than 25% of its size and is slowly dying. In some states they have filed to stop all NEW telephone circuits from be put in... Meaning you have to get VOIP or some other service.. that is no longer a dedicated hard wired circuit.. to a telephone switch. The new service is why and how the robo callers get into the system as there is no way to tell where they are really located or what country they are from. The come in through the internet. Good news is that the internet has NOT been regulated yet.... but they are trying hard and will soon be controlling it. On the new unregulated internet, you have so far not seen anyone going out to all the farms, so they must rely on service from cell towers or satellites, or local microwave hops as the "build out" will NOT pay back in two years or less. In a very few cases, some of the local coops have decided to build out, but they are protected under special laws and special rules so they actual get subsidies from the government via the universal service fee, so they are building out now via the free funds to prevent future competition from ever coming in. Ma bell was and is too big to get these funds. Verizon sold off all of it rural properties to a small(er) company who qualifies for the government subsidies. Thanks to the government... if your in rural areas, you may never see advanced services unless via cellular or microwave technologies. And yes in the city the copper plant is not being replaced and only fiber will be placed for new services.. because fiber does not have to be shared with your competition and sold at cost. Copper plant does.

How bout you do all the farming and sell me your crop at your cost.. so I can then resell it and make money. You have all the risk and I will undersell you as I have no expenses, loans, taxes, labor, unions, equipment, storage buildings etc..etc.. etc..