By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - Agrichemicals company Corteva CTVA.N has agreed to pay $85 million to resolve farmers’ claims in a U.S. class action lawsuit accusing it of rigging the market for some crop protection products.

Here are the details:

• The farmers' lawsuit in federal court in North Carolina alleged Corteva and Syngenta used loyalty programs with distributors to stymie competition from generic manufacturers, keeping prices of their crop protection products artificially high.

• Indianapolis-based Corteva denied any wrongdoing in agreeing to settle the lawsuit, which was filed in 2022 and came after the Federal Trade Commission and several states lodged claims against the company. The deal requires approval from a judge. Corteva said in a statement it was pleased to resolve the lawsuit and remains focused on its business and customers.

• The settlement class includes more than 100,000 farmers. The proposed amount represents about 10% of the total damages that an expert for the plaintiffs calculated were caused by Corteva's alleged misconduct, lawyers for the plaintiffs said.

• The settlement covers purchases since October 2018 of Corteva crop protection products that contained certain active ingredients.

• The case will continue against Corteva rival Syngenta, which has denied any wrongdoing. Syngenta, a Chinese-owned seeds and pesticides producer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• The plaintiffs told the court that “continuing to litigate against Corteva would have required significant additional resources and materially increased the complexity of the case, particularly at trial.”

• Lawyers for the farmers at Quinn Emanuel and other firms said they will ask for an unspecified amount in legal fees.

Read more:

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