Dicamba settlement claims period starts

Farmers who believe they had crops damaged from off-target dicamba from 2015 to 2020 can now submit claims at dicambasoybeansettlement.com/ or call 855-914-4672. The deadline to submit claims is May 28, 2021. The claims period began on December 29, 2020.

It’s part of a $400 million settlement announced last June that’s designed to compensate farmers for yield losses resulting from off-target dicamba crop damage. 

“We are pleased that relief will soon be available to the thousands of farmers across America who have suffered yield losses due to off-target movement of dicamba,” said attorney Don Downing, chair of the court-appointed plaintiffs’ executive committee in the multidistrict litigation. 
 
Under the settlement, affected farmers may receive up to 100% of their yield losses caused by off-target dicamba. That means impacted farmers can potentially recover 100 cents on the dollar of the losses that they can establish with standard farming records. Farmers are able to complete the claim process on their own, hire an attorney of their choice, or retain one of the plaintiffs’ executive committee firms to assist with putting together the claim form and supporting documentation.

The settlement resolves the claims brought by a large group of farmers from several states whose dicamba injury lawsuits had been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and claims for the 2015-2020 crop years. 

The settlement was negotiated by the court appointed plaintiffs’ executive committee: Don Downing of Gray Ritter & Graham, Rene Rocha of Morgan & Morgan, Paul Lesko of Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway, Hart Robinovitch of Zimmerman Reed, James Bilsborrow of Weitz & Luxenberg, Paul LLP, Bev Randles of Randles & Splittgerber,  and Paul Byrd of Paul Byrd Law Firm.