Over the past two decades, Leonard, Street and Deinard has served as national or regional counsel to some of the nation’s leading agribusiness companies in a broad range of litigated matters. We have represented manufacturers, producers and suppliers of agricultural equipment, animal vaccines and feeds, grains, fungicides and food and dairy products before juries, courts and regulatory agencies around the country.

Our agribusiness litigation attorneys have defended our agribusiness clients against claims of product defect, food adulteration and contamination, fraud, civil racketeering, breach of contract, breach of warranty and a variety of business torts. We have expertise handling class actions and multiplaintiff cases; individual claims for personal injury, wrongful death and economic loss; agricultural inspection, embargo, recall and enforcement proceedings; environmental permitting, enforcement and Superfund proceedings; and antitrust, employment and insurance litigation.

Over the years, we have developed a trusted network of local counsel in jurisdictions around the country and have worked extensively with national experts in the fields of microbiology, animal science, veterinary medicine, public health, industrial hygiene, horticulture and agricultural economics, to name a few. Our attorneys have a deep understanding of the scientific and technological issues critical to the analysis and defense of agricultural cases and a unique ability to present these complex issues to courts and juries in understandable terms. We have successfully tried many agricultural cases before juries in both rural and urban communities throughout the United States.

In addition to our extensive civil trial litigation experience, our attorneys have represented numerous crop and grain producers, food and dairy suppliers, and ready-to-eat food manufacturers in a variety of criminal and regulatory enforcement, inspection and labeling matters. 

A sampling of clients and engagements recently handled by the attorneys in our Agribusiness Litigation group:

A.O. Smith Corporation

We have served as national counsel for A.O. Smith in hundreds of agricultural cases involving claims of product defect, breach of warranty, fraud and racketeering arising from our client’s manufacture and marketing of Harvestore feed storage silos. Over a span of two decades, our lawyers have defended claims brought by farmers claiming livestock damage and economic losses to their farm operations allegedly caused by damaged feeds. We served as lead trial counsel in the decertification of a nine-figure national product liability class action and successfully defended the company in several civil RICO cases, culminating in a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision dismissing all RICO claims against our client.

Terra International

We served as national counsel to Terra for approximately ten years in litigation involving Benlate®, a fungicide formulated by DuPont and manufactured by Terra for the protection of bedding plants, crops, nursery plants, ornamentals, fruit and nut trees and golf courses. Our attorneys represented Terra in hundreds of product liability cases brought by growers who claimed the product killed or damaged the crops and plants it was designed to protect. Our work involved litigation against DuPont over responsibility for the damages and defense costs resulting from the waves of individual grower claims as well as providing a joint defense with DuPont in individual grower economic loss cases. Our representation included related insurance coverage disputes, FIFRA regulatory enforcement proceedings, lawsuits in Delaware and Iowa between Terra and DuPont, and individual cases in virtually every state in the nation.

ProtaTek International

Our attorneys represented ProtaTek, the manufacturer of an animal vaccine for Schering Plough Animal Health Corporation, as national trial counsel in dozens of product liability cases brought by beef and dairy producers throughout the southern United States. We defended our client before courts and juries against both product contamination and efficacy claims, and successfully negotiated a global resolution of all claims, including plaintiffs’ economic loss claims and indemnification claims between ProtaTek and Schering Plough.

United Sugars

We have represented United Sugars in a variety of matters, including disputes regarding food supply adulteration, warranty, indemnification and insurance coverage issues.

CF Industries

Our attorneys have handled numerous cases for this agricultural chemical manufacturer, including the recent successful defense of our client in a trial involving deaths and catastrophic injuries resulting from the explosion of an anhydrous ammonia nurse tank.