Kia Franklin

Have The Courts Gone Bananas?

A Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge recently slashed a punitive damage judgment against Dole for knowingly using pesticides that sterilized its agricultural workers, now decades ago. Why?

Not because the pesticides were safe—indeed they’ve been banned worldwide. Not because Dole’s actions didn’t warrant punitive damages—Dole knew the pesticides were potentially dangerous. The damages were thrown out because they applied to the U.S.-based Fortune 500 company’s role in “injuries that occurred only in a foreign country.”

Here’s more from the LA Times:

Although the decision leaves four workers with $1.58 million, it will undercut claims of an estimated 6,000 others who have sued in the United States for similar injuries suffered outside of this country.

On Tort Deform, we usually talk about how the civil justice system works domestically, to protect the average American Joe against being discriminated against, poisoned, killed, or otherwise harmed by another’s—even a corporation’s or a government entity’s—unlawful actions. And we talk about how the civil justice system, when it functions properly, allows for the Erin Brokovitch and Civil Action stories we’ve come to appreciate so much.

But this case warrants examination into whether U.S.-based companies should be punished for civil crimes against non-Americans, outside the boundaries of the U.S.

It also once again raises red flags about the pro-business bias that threatens the integrity of our courts and our faith in the reliability of our justice system.

Posted at 1:03 PM, Mar 12, 2008 in Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)