Agricultural workers file substantial lawsuits against pesticide vendors - Agricultural workers initiate substantial lawsuits against plant preservation advocates
The Cartel Office frequently takes down illegal price-fixing schemas by corporations and slaps fines, which then fill government treasuries. The hurt parties must file a separate lawsuit for damages. Presently, a lawsuit has been filed in Dortmund Regional Court against a cartel of nine plant protection wholesalers by a law firm named Unilegion, representing 3,200 farmers. Unilegion requires a hefty sum of over 200 million euros from the wholesalers, claiming that the farmers had to pay inflated prices due to the cartel and deserve a refund.
The cartel, as per the Federal Cartel Office, had manipulated list prices for years, covering a timespan from 1998 to 2015. The competition authorities levied fines totaling 157 million euros in 2020. From Unilegion's perspective, the farmers were the unfortunate victims of the cartel and are now clamoring for their money back.
Plant protection products are a vital component in agricultural trade. Farmers use these products to shield their crops from losses caused by pests or plant diseases.
The defendants, predominantly BayWa from Munich and Agravis from Münster (NRW), refute the farmers' claims. Agravis maintains that the cartel did not establish fixed prices; rather, the selling prices were individually negotiated between the buyer and seller. No harm was inflicted on the plaintiffs, according to Agravis. The company eagerly awaits the forthcoming legal verdict. BayWa declined to speak on the allegations.
Farmers from various parts of the country have joined the lawsuit at Dortmund Regional Court; some have substantial operations, while others are small-scale. The damage claims per farm fluctuate from a few thousand euros to over one million euros.
The farmers collectively manage around 850,000 hectares of land, which represents more than five percent of the total cultivated area in Germany. These farmers from diverse regions have a common bond – they frequently purchased plant protection products for their farms.
Katharina Fröhlich, a Unilegion executive, asserts that the farmers were subjected to exorbitant pressures due to high economic constraints and paid inflated prices for these products. She adds that it's high time the farmers received their dues back. Unilegion has scrutinized a total of 600,000 invoices for plant protection products on behalf of the farmers and delegated an expert consulting firm to compute the damage figures.
In such legal disputes, the defendants generally challenge the plaintiffs' expert opinions and present their own, which almost always arrive at contrasting conclusions. Although the cartel's existence is proven, the precise impact it had on prices remains undetermined by the Federal Cartel Office. The plaintiff must compellingly explain this question during the court proceedings. Comprehensive expert opinions are indispensable for this, which then trigger counter-expert opinions from the defendants. At times, there are even "expert battles" in court.
It is shown statistically that prices typically skyrocket substantially in the presence of cartels. However, the plaintiffs must demonstrate a particular price hike for their circumstances, which is a formidable task.
The legal feud over plant protection prices is expected to be a prolonged undertaking. Agravis hinted that certain comparable proceedings extended beyond a decade. "Following the first-instance decision from Dortmund Regional Court, two additional instances may follow."
The cartel, accused of manipulating list prices for plant protection products from 1998 to 2015, received a combined fine of 157 million euros from the competition authorities. Despite Agravis' argument that selling prices were individually negotiated, Unilegion represents 3,200 farmers who claim inflated prices due to the cartel and seek a refund of over 200 million euros in damages.
The impact of the cartel on damages is a contentious issue in the lawsuit, with the Federal Cartel Office unable to provide a precise figure. Unilegion, representing farmers with varying damage claims ranging from a few thousand to over one million euros, has relied on expert opinions to demonstrate the cartel's impact on prices.
In the legal dispute, the defendants and plaintiffs often present contrasting expert opinions, leading to "expert battles" in court. The plaintiffs must convincingly establish a particular price hike in their circumstances to prove damages, which is a challenging task.
