Litigation

Dole Fraud Hearing Begins

By Bruce Nye

    I've blogged here and here about the Dole DBCP cases in Los Angeles.  First, six Nicaraguan filed workers tagged the company for $3.2 million, claiming sterility from exposure to this nematocide while working in the fields.  Plaintiffs were awareded punitive damages, which the trial judge took away, and she reduced the compensatoris to $1.58 for good measure.  Then the trial judge got wind that many of the related cases might be invented and ordered a hearing, which started yesterday.

    The LA Times reports that Dole's attorney, in his opening statement, told the court that "witnesses feared being killed for testifying about the scheme," and described a "decades long" scheme to defraud companies.  Judge Chaney "said she was concerned for the safety of investigators and attorneys and feared obstruction of justice and interference with due process." 

    But here's the real tell: 

Full post as published by CalBizLit on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).