John Mandler is an experienced trial lawyer. John has litigated to verdict numerous product liability, class action and toxic tort cases across the country for clients such as BASF Corp., Bayer CropScience, DuPont, Pioneer and Syngenta. He recently represented Agrium in a six-week trial in Arkansas state court resulting in a complete defense verdict.  John is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

As the leader of the firm's agribusiness litigation practice and a member of the firm's food, agriculture and biofuels industry group, John has counseled the firm's crop protection chemical and seed company clients on a variety of issues such as:

• Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
• Product labeling and packaging issues
• Label licenses
• Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) issues
• Federal and state law and regulatory issues
• Product liability prevention

John has the following representative trials and reported decisions to his credit:

• Burns et al. v. Universal Crop Protection Alliance, et al., Circuit Court, Clay County Arkansas, CV-2009-51.   Sixty three plaintiffs allege that their cotton crops were damaged from spray drift of defendants' 2,4-D herbicide products.  John was lead counsel for Crop Production Services in a six-week trial in the fall of 2010 resulting in a complete defense verdict.  The jury rejected claims by a group of cotton farmers that 2,4-D had drifted distances up to 100 miles to  injure their cotton crops. 
• Mortellite v. Novartis (Syngenta) Crop Protection, Inc., U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The District Court granted summary judgment for client on claims by thirteen blueberry producers granted on the basis of prior settlement and FIFRA preemption. The Third Circuit Court of appeals reversed the dismissal as to seven growers on the basis of an intervening U.S. Supreme Court decision. 278 F. Supp. 2d 390 (2003); 460 F.3d 483 (3rd Cir. 2006). On remand, the District Court again granted complete summary judgment on the remaining claims of the remaining plaintiffs. The Third Circuit recently partially reversed that dismissal. Indian Brand Farms v. Novartis (Syngenta) Crop Protection, Inc., 2007 WL 4571087 (2007); 2010 WL 3122815 (Aug 10, 2010) (NO. 08-4484).
• Adams, et al. v. United States, DuPont, et al., U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho. Over 400 growers of various crops alleged off-target movement of herbicide applied by the Bureau of Land Management on government-controlled, fire-damaged land to control invasive weed species. In 2009, John represented DuPont in a four-month trial of the claims of four bellwether plaintiffs (2009 trial).
• Hardin v. BASF Corp., U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Claims by multiple plaintiffs regarding alleged drift of rice herbicide causing injury to multiple years' tomato crops. Summary judgment for client on basis of FIFRA preemption granted, affirmed, and then vacated (290 F. Supp. 2d 964 (2003) 397 F.3d 1082, aff'd (8th Cir. 2005), vacated (8th Cir. 2005)).
• Nunhems USA, Inc. v. Klein Karoo Cooperative Ltd., Arbitration under Rules of International Seed Federation, Johannesburg, South Africa. Represented plaintiffs seeking recovery under commercial seed production contract; client recovered full amount of multi-million dollar claim (2005 Arbitration).
• Optimum Quality Grains, LLC v. Westway Terminal Co., District Court, Woodbury County, Iowa. Represented plaintiff in breach of commercial contraction action to recover damages from contamination of sunflower oil by genetically modified materials; client recovered full amount of multi-million dollar claim and attorneys fees (2003 Trial).
• Peterson et al v. BASF Corp., District Court, Norman County, Minnesota. Defended nationwide class action under New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act relating to the pricing and marketing of pesticide products (618 N.W.2d 821; 657 N.W.2d 853; 675 N.W.2d 57; 125 S. Ct. 1968; 711 N.W. 2d 470; 127 S. Ct. 579 (2001 Trial).
• T.F. Ltd. v. American Cyanamid Co., District Court, Mitchell County, Iowa. Multiple-year litigation alleging carryover injury to corn from soybean herbicide. Defense verdict; upheld on appeal (2002 Trial; 690 N.W.2d 463 (Iowa. App. 2004) (unpublished)).

Pro Bono

Honors

• American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow
• Super Lawyers, Class Action/Mass Torts
• Minnesota Advocate's Award for Services in Defense of Human Rights
• Recipient of the John C. Benson Pro Bono Award, 2007

Professional Associations

Presentations

• Litigation Update Regarding Biotech Corps: Contamination Liability and Challenges to the Regulatory Structure
  Food, Agriculture & Biofuels 2010 National Conference, Minneapolis (2010)

Legal Updates