Case
TicoFrut, S.A. v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., Inc.
TicoFrut, S.A., a large orange grower and processor in Costa Rica, sued our client, DuPont, claiming that use of DuPont's fungicide Benlate DF had caused TicoFrut to suffer more than $170 million in damages. TicoFrut alleged that trees treated with Benlate DF produced substantially less fruit than non-treated trees. The company also alleged that, as a result, investors who would have funded significant planting of additional trees chose not to. The company claimed that it would have been able to expand to nearly four times its current size but for the damage caused by Benlate DF.
Working closely with DuPont's outside counsel at Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP, an Analysis Group team led by Managing Principal Marc Van Audenrode supported our academic affiliate, Professor Robert Hall of Stanford University, in analyses of TicoFrut's production data and of the profitability of investing in Costa Rican orange groves. Professor Hall concluded that there was no difference in orange production between TicoFrut trees that had been treated with Benlate DF and those that had not. Professor Hall also concluded that even if TicoFrut had achieved its claimed "but-for" productivity, planting orange groves in Costa Rica would not have been profitable, due largely to falling orange juice prices. The jury found no liability for DuPont.
Meet Our People
Marc Van Audenrode*
Managing Principal*Dr. Van Audenrode is an expert in data analysis and econometrics, labor economics, antitrust and competition policy, and public economics. He has consulted to clients - including law firms and government agencies - in Canada, the US, and Europe. Dr. Van Audenrode’s work includes developing a methodology to value desktop software; he also developed expertise valuing goods as varied as restaurant franchises, executive stock options, or smartphone features. His recent work in public economics includes evaluating the economic rent from hydroelectricity to the Canadian economy and the value of logging rights on the ancestral territory of a Canadian First Nation. In the area of labor economics, his work has included filing an expert report assessing fair compensation for Quebec provincial judges and Quebec prosecutors and advising Quebec’s commission on pay equity. Dr. Van Audenrode has filed expert reports in courts in the US, Canada, Belgium, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, and has testified in Canada and the US. He recently filed a report with the Amsterdam Court of Appeal in support of the settlement reached between Ageas and claimant organizations in the Fortis case, the largest settlement ever reached through the Dutch Collective Settlement Act (WCAM). Dr. Van Audenrode’s scientific research and articles have been published in numerous peer-reviewed academic journals and trade journals. He is a coauthor of the book The Mutual Fund Industry: Competition and Investor Welfare, and is a frequent presenter at industry and academic conferences.
*Marc Van Audenrode srl