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US: Chiquita settles suits over terror payments
Chiquita Brands International Inc., which in 2007 pleaded guilty to U.S. charges of paying terrorist groups in Colombia for protection, said it reached a "favorable" settlement of shareholder lawsuits over the illegal payments.
The downtown Cincinnati-based product company will not pay money damages under the proposed deal, Chiquita spokesman Ed Loyd said Wednesday in a phone interview. A notice of the settlement was filed Tuesday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
"The settlement provides for the adoption of certain governance and compliance changes by the company and payments of attorneys' fees for plaintiffs counsel that aren't material to our financial statements," Loyd said.
The deal, which needs court approval, doesn't apply to lawsuits filed by family members of hundreds of people killed by two Colombian paramilitary groups that allegedly received money from Chiquita for about 15 years. Those cases, consolidated in the same Florida court, claim Chiquita supported the terrorists financially and by transporting weapons and drugs.
The settlement was reached between shareholders and Chiquita's special-litigation committee, comprising non- management members of the company's board, court records show. Full details of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Chiquita pleaded guilty in 2007 to federal criminal charges that it paid the right-wing paramilitary group United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, more than $1.7 million in at least 100 installments from 1997 to 2004. The company agreed to pay a $25 million fine and its executives weren't charged.
The company was also accused of supporting the left-wing paramilitary group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, from 1989 to about 1997. AUC was FARC's main enemy and the groups traded control of the region where a Chiquita subsidiary operated at the time.
The victims' families are suing under the Alien Tort Statute, a U.S. law that lets non-U.S. citizens sue American companies in federal court over alleged abuses abroad. The claim Chiquita provided money, weapons, ammunition and transportation to the two armed groups.
In March 2008, Chiquita was sued under another law by the families of five American missionaries killed by FARC a decade ago in Colombia. The lawyer who filed the suit said damages in that case may exceed $780 million.
The missionaries' families accused Chiquita of paying FARC for protection and supplying it with weapons from 1989 to 1997. The case was the first against a U.S. company under a 1992 law allowing Americans to sue U.S. organizations over terrorism deaths abroad.
Source: news.cincinnati.com
Chiquita Brands International Inc., which in 2007 pleaded guilty to U.S. charges of paying terrorist groups in Colombia for protection, said it reached a "favorable" settlement of shareholder lawsuits over the illegal payments.
The downtown Cincinnati-based product company will not pay money damages under the proposed deal, Chiquita spokesman Ed Loyd said Wednesday in a phone interview. A notice of the settlement was filed Tuesday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
"The settlement provides for the adoption of certain governance and compliance changes by the company and payments of attorneys' fees for plaintiffs counsel that aren't material to our financial statements," Loyd said.
The deal, which needs court approval, doesn't apply to lawsuits filed by family members of hundreds of people killed by two Colombian paramilitary groups that allegedly received money from Chiquita for about 15 years. Those cases, consolidated in the same Florida court, claim Chiquita supported the terrorists financially and by transporting weapons and drugs.
The settlement was reached between shareholders and Chiquita's special-litigation committee, comprising non- management members of the company's board, court records show. Full details of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Chiquita pleaded guilty in 2007 to federal criminal charges that it paid the right-wing paramilitary group United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, more than $1.7 million in at least 100 installments from 1997 to 2004. The company agreed to pay a $25 million fine and its executives weren't charged.
The company was also accused of supporting the left-wing paramilitary group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, from 1989 to about 1997. AUC was FARC's main enemy and the groups traded control of the region where a Chiquita subsidiary operated at the time.
The victims' families are suing under the Alien Tort Statute, a U.S. law that lets non-U.S. citizens sue American companies in federal court over alleged abuses abroad. The claim Chiquita provided money, weapons, ammunition and transportation to the two armed groups.
In March 2008, Chiquita was sued under another law by the families of five American missionaries killed by FARC a decade ago in Colombia. The lawyer who filed the suit said damages in that case may exceed $780 million.
The missionaries' families accused Chiquita of paying FARC for protection and supplying it with weapons from 1989 to 1997. The case was the first against a U.S. company under a 1992 law allowing Americans to sue U.S. organizations over terrorism deaths abroad.
Source: news.cincinnati.com
Publication date: 1/8/2010
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