Ecuadorian workers can pursue pesticide claims against Dole
Bloomberg Law
January 25, 2024

• Exposed while working on banana plantations 40+ years ago
• Judge says workers’ claims not time-barred under Delaware law

Dole Food Co. Inc., Dow Chemical Co., Chiquita Brands International Inc., Shell Oil Co., and other companies must face claims in a long-running mass tort action brought by 65 Ecuadorian workers who claimed that they were exposed to a toxic pesticide while working on banana plantations in the 1960s through the 1980s, according to a federal judge who said the claims weren’t time barred.

Dole, a Delaware corporation, said that the workers’ claims are analogous to an Ecuadorian negligence claim, but Judge Richard G. Andrews of the US District Court for the District of Delaware agreed with an expert, Professor Angel R. Oquendo, that the claims qualify as an Ecuadorian protective action.

Accordingly, “Delaware’s limitations period must govern Plaintiffs’ negligence claim,” Andrews said. “I therefore find that Plaintiffs’ negligence claim is not time barred.” ... The parties had nominated Oquendo, a law professor at the University of Connecticut, to assist Andrews.

Treating the workers’ claims as a negligence action in Ecuador would be inadequate, Oquendo said. Ecuadorian protective actions are intended to address violations of constitutional rights for which there are no other remedies, and the workers’ allegations detail deprivation of their rights to health and a safe working environment.

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