
Dole Food Company, Inc. Rejects False Report of Enforcement Claim in Venezuela
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, California â JUNE 03, 2009 â Dole Food Company, Inc. today rejected an inaccurate report of a Nicaragua judgment enforcement decision in Venezuela.A May 29, 2009, story in Nicaraguaâs La Prensa newspaper inaccurately reported that on May 4, the Supreme Court of Venezuela ordered Venezuelan subsidiaries of Shell Chemical Company, Dole Food Company, Inc. and Dow Chemical Company to pay compensation to 98 former banana farm workers in Nicaragua. No such ruling took place.âThis story is completely false. There has been no such ruling in Venezuela, or anywhere else outside of Nicaragua,â said C. Michael Carter, Doleâs Executive Vice President and General Counsel. âJudge Chaneyâs oral ruling in the Mejia and Rivera cases cited the âsystematic fabricationâ of evidence from Nicaraguan plaintiffs, including âfraudulent documentsâ and âspurious lab reports.â Further, she found that these fabricated claims were the byproduct of lawyers and corrupt Nicaraguan judges conspiring to perpetrate âa blatant extortionâ of Dole and the other defendants.â Mr. Carter added, âthat the Nicaragua judgments are part of this extortion.âIn her ruling on April 23, 2009, Los Angeles Superior Court Victoria Chaney stated, âthis court questions the authenticity and reliability of any documentary evidence presented by plaintiffs that comes out of Nicaragua. & I canât believe in government documents, I canât believe in these work certificates, I canât believe the laboratory reports, I canât believe medical reports. What is there for me to believe? Nothing. I have serious, serious doubts about the bone fides of any plaintiff claiming to have been injured as a result of exposure to DBCP while working on banana plantations.âJudge Chaney dismissed with prejudice the Mejia and Rivera lawsuits in response to clear and convincing evidence that the plaintiffs, and certain of their attorneys, fabricated their claims, engaged in a long-running conspiracy to commit a fraud on the court, used threats of violence to frighten witnesses and suppress the truth, and conspired with corrupt Nicaraguan judges, depriving Dole and the other companies of due process.Dole Food Company, Inc., with 2008 revenues of $7.6 billion, is the worldâs largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Dole markets a growing line of packaged foods and frozen fruit and is a produce industry leader in nutrition education and research. For more information on the companyâs CSR efforts, please visit www.dolecsr.com.Related posts: