Bartlit Beck Prevails For DuPont In Benlate Case

Bartlit Beck represented DuPont in 10-week Miami jury trial of product liability claims involving DuPont's Benlate fungicide. Plaintiffs, 27 Costa Rican ferneries, claimed $396 million damages. Trial court entered directed verdicts for DuPont on all claims of most of the largest plaintiffs (constituting 60% of plaintiffs' total claimed damages). The jury awarded other plaintiffs a small fraction of amounts sought. In December 2009, the Florida court of appeals (1) affirmed the directed verdicts for DuPont on claims of the largest plaintiffs, and (2) reversed all jury verdicts for other plaintiffs due to numerous trial court errors, and remanded for new individual trials. Representing DuPont were Jeff Hall, Jason Peltz, Karma Giulianelli and Andrew Baak of Bartlit Beck, with Shook, Hardy & Bacon and Hicks, Porter, Ebenfeld & Stein.

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