Federal Judge Rejects $97M Nicaraguan Judgment Against Dole

A Florida federal judge has refused to enforce a $97 million Nicaraguan judgment against Dow Chemical Co. and Dole Food Co. in a case brought by 150 Nicaraguan agricultural workers who alleged they became sterile after being exposed to the pesticide dibromochloropropane.

Judge Paul Huck of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida said the legal regime that was applied in this case does not comport with the "basic fairness" that the concept of due process requires.

"The judgment was rendered under a system in which political strongmen exert their control over a weak and corrupt judiciary," the judge said.

Commenting on the decision, C. Michael Carter, Dole's executive vice president and general counsel, said in a statement that the court's ruling indicates that corruption and a lack of due process are the norm in the Nicaraguan judicial system.

Dow manufactured DBCP from 1957 until 1977, and Dole used the pesticide on its banana farms in Nicaragua until the farms were expropriated by the Sandinista regime that came to power in 1979.

After Nicaragua passed the Special Law to Prosecute Lawsuits Filed by Persons Affected by the Use of Pesticides Manufactured with a DBCP Base in 2000 or Special Law 364, workers who claimed they became sterile after being exposed to the pesticide filed lawsuits against Dow and Dole.

In this particular case, the tribunal awarded the plaintiffs $97 million, or about $647,000 per plaintiff.

The tribunal required the defendants to deposit a $100,000 bond to cover court courts and $15 million to guarantee payment of compensation to the plaintiffs.

The defendants declined to post the bond but agreed to have the case heard in a U.S. court.

The plaintiffs brought the case to the United States under Florida's Uniform Out-of-Country Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act, which attempts to guarantee the recognition of Florida judgments in foreign countries by providing reciprocity in Florida for judgments rendered abroad.

The defendants raised several objections to enforcing the judgment in the United States, including that there was no due-process protection under the Nicaraguan tribunals and that enforcing the judgment would violate Florida public policy.

Judge Huck agreed, explaining that a foreign judgment cannot be recognized in Florida if it was rendered "under a system which does not provide ... procedures compatible with the requirements of due process of law."

Special Law 364 exempts plaintiffs from proving causation, and the defendants are precluded from offering scientific evidence to rebut the presumption, the judge said.

"Civilized nations do not typically require defendants to pay out millions of dollars without proof that they are responsible for the alleged injuries," he said.

The law under which this case was tried in Nicaragua stripped the defendants of their basic right in any adversarial proceeding to produce evidence in their favor, Judge Huck concluded.

Therefore, he ordered that the plaintiffs' judgment would not be recognized or enforced.

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