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Suit denied status as class action Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/Business/5256675D09377B6386256DB300120400?OpenDocument&Headline=Monsanto+suit+is+denied+status+as+class+actionhttp://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/Business/5256675D09377B6386256DB300120400?OpenDocument&Headline=Monsanto+suit+is+denied+status+as+class+action
Monsanto suit is denied status as class action
By Rachel Melcer Post-Dispatch
updated: 10/01/2003 10:15 PM
A federal judge has refused to certify a class-action lawsuit against Monsanto Co. over alleged seed price-fixing, saying the price of seeds is not actually fixed.
"Supply-and-demand conditions for seed sales vary to ... a great extent," Judge Rodney Sippel wrote in a 17-page decision issued Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis.
"The market for seeds is highly individualized depending upon geographic location, growing conditions, consumer preference and other factors," he wrote.
This is the second blow to the case, which was brought in 1999 by farmers who grow soybeans and corn using Monsanto's Roundup Ready technology. The genetically modified crops can stand up to glyphosate herbicide, which Monsanto sells under the Roundup brand, allowing farmers to more efficiently kill weeds.
The suit accuses Monsanto and other seed companies that license its Roundup Ready technology - Syngenta, Bayer and DuPont - of fixing prices by charging farmers a set technology fee.
It also alleges that the companies were negligent in selling genetically modified crops, which have been rejected by several European countries. The modified crops could become mixed with conventional ones in shipping, the suit alleges, causing these countries to reject all crops grown by U.S. farmers - and costing the farmers lost sales.
Sipple dismissed the negligence tort claim Sept. 19, saying the growers lacked proof of injury. They did not present evidence that their conventional crops were "contaminated" by modified ones, according to the judge's ruling.
With the one-two punch against the plaintiffs, Monsanto is claiming victory. The company, based in Creve Coeur, will move to have the case dismissed at an upcoming status hearing, said spokesman Bryan Hurley.
Monsanto spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop Roundup Ready crops, Hurley noted. Seed makers pay royalties to Monsanto to include the genetic trait in their varieties. Then each company decides whether to pass along the cost to farmers who buy the seeds.
Sipple noted that the companies and their distributors often reduce overall seed costs or offer rebates and discounts to offset the premium. In some cases, "The actual prices paid by many farmers was well below Monsanto's technology fee."
In the past, when the technology was new and unfamiliar, Monsanto had required seed companies to charge growers a set fee to show how much they were paying for the Roundup Ready benefit, Hurley said. They could then compare the cost with the amount they would otherwise spend on herbicides in conjunction with traditional seeds. But seed companies were free to lower other aspects of the price.
"There is a premium to the biotechnology," Hurley said. "But it varies by seed company, it varies by crop, it varies by trait. There are so many variables."
Reporter Rachel Melcer:
E-mail: rmelcer@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8394
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