Syngenta Pays $105mn to settle herbicide claims

Syngenta will pay $105 million to settle a class action that claimed its atrazine herbicide polluted water supplies. The settlement ends nearly 8 years of litigation.

 It covers the City of Greenville and several other Midwestern water providers' 2010 federal lawsuit, and similar claims filed in Madison County Court in 2004.

The plaintiffs claimed that atrazine, a popular agricultural herbicide, polluted groundwater and forced them to spend money to test, monitor and filter their water.

U.S. District Judge Phil Gilbert approved the settlement, which will provide $5,000 to each water provider, to cover about 20 water tests.

The plaintiffs will split the rest of the settlement, minus $8 million for litigation costs and $32 million for attorneys' fees, based on the amount of atrazine found in their water and the population they serve.