DuPont Fined $78.3 Over Fungicide Benlate By Paul Anderson 15 August 2001 NEW YORK (Reuters) - DuPont Co. (DD), the No. 1 U.S. chemical company, on Monday reiterated its plan to stop selling the controversial fungicide Benlate by year-end after a Florida jury ordered it to pay $78.3 million in a lawsuit filed by two Costa Rican-based plant nurseries. The Wilmington, Delaware-based firm said it plans to appeal the Friday ruling because it was not based on "scientific facts". "We are appealing immediately and we are pretty sure we will be heard," DuPont spokesman Mike Ricciuto said. "We still make Benlate but we will cease marketing it at the end of this year. It's a distraction for us to be constantly engaged in litigation on what we believe is a good and a worthwhile product," he added. On Friday the jury ruled that the fungicide applied by nurseries Palmas y Bambu and Productura de Smillas was defective. It found DuPont liable for negligence, fraud and racketeering under Florida's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The jury awarded Palmas $15 million and Productura $14 million, trebled the combined amount under Florida's racketeering statue, and discounted the total by 10 percent to account for the nurseries' portion of fault, Ricciuto said. He said the case was the third to come before a Dade County Circuit judge. Ricciuto said the previous two, which DuPont had initially lost, were overturned upon appeal. Florida was the site for some of the Benlate cases due to its proximity to Latin America where the plaintiffs were based. Benlate -- which has been on the market for about 33 years -- has resulted in litigation costs and settlement charges to DuPont totaling about $1.3 billion over the last 10 years, leaving it little choice but to discontinue making the fungicide. DuPont first announced its intention to ditch Benlate in April. NO FINANCIAL IMPACT SEEN However, John Roberts, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, said said the latest fine was not material to DuPont's financial results outlook. "It will not change our earnings forecasts or investment opinion on the stock," he said. There are about 100 extra cases still pending against DuPont over Benlate, said Riccuito. He said sales of Benlate last year totaled about $90 million. Among previous Benlate cases, a jury in February awarded $12.3 million to Ecuadorean company Aquamar S.A. in a suit that claimed run-off from Benlate and other fertilizers used in banana plantations poisoned its shrimp population. A jury also awarded $10.1 million in damages to Ecuadorean shrimp farming company Desarrollo Industrial Biocuatico in a similar case in December. HIGH PROFILE LAWSUIT OVERTURNED But the most high-profile lawsuit involving the Benlate occurred in 1996, when a couple who claimed their son was born without eyes because the mother was sprayed with Benlate. The couple was awarded nearly $4 million in damages, but the ruling was later overturned by an appeals court. "We don't believe the product ever caused any damage on any crop," said Riccuito, adding DuPont had marketed Benlate with no hassle to food crop farmers before. "By and large people in these lawsuits have been people who grow plants used in decorating homes, shopping malls and offices," Riccuito said. "There are lot of reasons why crops fail around world but in (these cases people have) decided that it will always be Benlate. Our science has been accurate and it's not Benlate." DuPont shares traded down 1.13 percent or 47 cents to $41.25 on the New York Stock Exchange in early Monday afternoon.