Legal News

Dole files suit against 'Bananas!' filmmakers

By Richard Binder

Dole Food Co. has filed a defamation suit in Los Angeles against two Swedish filmmakers whose recently screened documentary chronicles a lawsuit alleging that workers in Nicaragua were rendered sterile after being exposed to the pesticide DBCP on Dole's banana farms.

The suit was filed one day after a panel of the California 2d District Court of Appeal ruled that the 2007 jury award of $5.8 million in damages to six Nicaraguan workers should be reviewed in lower court to determine whether it was tainted by potential fraud.

Last month, "Bananas!", directed by Fredrik Gertten and produced by Margarete Jangard of Sweden's WG Film AG, was screened during Film Independent's Los Angeles Film Festival. According to Dole, the film excluded all mention of the fraud finding.

Full story at NLJ.com.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on July 09, 2009 (boomark / email).