District Judge orders reduction of punitive damages in dicamba case

District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. ordered Nov. 25 that punitive damages awarded to Bader Farms Inc. in its lawsuit against Monsanto Co. and BASF Corp. be reduced.

A jury decided on Feb. 15 that Monsanto and BASF should pay $250 million in punitive damages to Bill and Denise Bader, owners of Bader Farms near Campbell, Missouri, after thousands of peach trees were killed or damaged by the herbicide dicamba. On Nov. 25, Limbaugh reduced that amount to $60 million.

“The jury’s punitive damages award will be reduced to a Constitutionally-appropriate amount,” a court memorandum stated. “Otherwise, the judgment will not be disturbed.”

Bader Farms, Missouri’s largest peach grower, initially filed suit against Monsanto in 2016 in Dunklin County. The Baders claimed dicamba-based herbicides had “drifted” from other farms onto their orchards in 2015 when dicamba was illegally sprayed on farmland surrounding the Bader farm. The case was moved to federal court, and in October 2017, the lawsuit was amended to include claims against BASF, which makes a dicamba-based herbicide called Engenia. The Baders sought $20.9 million in damages based on past and future crop losses, and were awarded $15 million in compensatory damages.