Community

Conrad & Scherer News: Chiquita Brands International Ordered to pay $38.3 million to Colombia Families

The giant multinational corporation Chiquita Brands International has been ordered by a West Palm Beach federal jury to pay $38.3 million to the families of eight Colombian men who were killed by a paramilitary group in their own country.

The plaintiffs alleged that Chiquita paid the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) nearly $2 million, “despite knowing that the AUC was an illegal organization engaged in a reign of terror,” the families’ attorneys said in a statement.

“Our clients risked their lives to come forward to hold Chiquita to account, putting their faith in the United States justice system.  I am very grateful to the jury for the time and care they took to evaluate the evidence,” said Agnieszka Fryszman, chair of Cohen Milstein’s Human Rights practice and one of the attorneys leading the case. “The verdict does not bring back the husbands and sons who were killed, but it sets the record straight and places accountability for funding terrorism where it belongs: at Chiquita’s doorstep.”

Chiquita faces hundreds of similar suits in the U.S. filed by families of other victims of the AUC. The verdict is the first time a civil jury has found Chiquita liable for deaths in Colombia. Cases filed in states including New York, Florida and Ohio have been consolidated in the Southern District of Florida in what is known as Multi-District Litigation.