Syngenta, Corteva must face Arkansas lawsuit over pesticide programs

By Mike Scarcella

Feb 20 (Reuters) - Pesticide manufacturers Syngenta and Corteva must face a lawsuit from the state of Arkansas accusing them of suppressing competition for pesticide sales and keeping prices artificially high, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Brian Miller in Little Rock, Arkansas, said the state can pursue its claims that loyalty programs run by Syngenta and Corteva that provide rebates for pesticide purchases violate federal and state antitrust and consumer-protection laws.

Arkansas’ lawsuit claimed Syngenta and Corteva are paying pesticide distributors or retailers to restrict their purchase of generic crop-protection products that contain specific ingredients.

The lawsuit said distributors and retailers fear losing their loyalty payments and so have no incentive to sell more generics.

Syngenta and Corteva did not immediately respond to requests for comment. They have denied any wrongdoing.

In a statement, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, a Republican, said the state “has legitimate claims against the anticompetitive rebate programs” of Syngenta and Corteva and will seek to “hold companies accountable for practices that harm the market and ultimately consumers."

Syngenta and Corteva in seeking dismissal of the state’s lawsuit said their rebate programs lowered prices and denied they are anticompetitive.

They also said the state should have been barred from bringing antitrust claims on behalf of consumers.

Miller said the state had sufficiently alleged Arkansas residents were paying higher prices for pesticide products based on the claimed anticompetitive conduct.

Syngenta and Corteva are fighting other lawsuits challenging their loyalty programs.

In January, U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder in the Winston-Salem federal court said the companies must face some antitrust claims lodged by farmers in California, Texas, Florida and other states.

Schroeder last year also said that a related U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, filed with a bipartisan group of U.S. states, could move forward.

The case is State of Arkansas v. Syngenta Crop Protection AG et al, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, No. 4:22-cv-01287-BSM.

For Arkansas: Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin; Brian Reddick of Reddick Law; Stuart Davidson of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd; and W. Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm

For Syngenta: David Toscano of Davis Polk & Wardwell

For Corteva: David Marriott of Cravath, Swaine & Moore

Read more:

Syngenta, Corteva must face part of farmers’ antitrust lawsuit over pesticide prices

Bayer, others defeat US farmers' chemical price-fixing lawsuit

US states flex new power to steer antitrust lawsuits

Syngenta, Corteva must face FTC lawsuit over pesticide 'loyalty programs