Wolf acknowledged challenges in maintaining contact with all his clients over the past 15 years but committed to significant efforts to reach them through Colombian media.
Retained Jurisdiction
Judge Marra will retain jurisdiction over any disputes regarding a $250,000 attorney fee claim by Conrad & Scherer LLP, which asserts it performed work for a small group of Wolf’s clients. The judge believes 18 months is sufficient to resolve this dispute.
MDL Claims Gets Approval : Background of MDL Claims
The plaintiffs in the MDL have operated separately as “non-Wolf plaintiffs” and “Wolf plaintiffs” for a decade, following an incident in 2013 when Wolf allegedly copied Chiquita’s lead counsel on a message discussing case strategy. The non-Wolf attorney group also accused him of voluntarily disclosing confidential work product communications during discovery.
The motion to sever arose from a Spanish post by Wolf on a website linked to his Facebook page, which included the verdict form from the first trial. This post, which detailed the plaintiffs and their awarded amounts, was deemed to put clients at risk for violence and extortion in Colombia, violating a previous court order.
Settlement Fund Allocation
According to the settlement, any remaining funds after 18 months will be used for community projects in Apartadó, Colombia, such as schools or hospitals.
MDL Claims Gets Approval : Previous Bellwether Trial
In the first bellwether trial, jurors in West Palm Beach awarded $38.3 million to 16 plaintiffs, all survivors of victims of the AUC, whose deaths were central to the case. Chiquita was not found liable for one of the nine deaths due to insufficient evidence of AUC involvement.
Historical Context
This case marks the first trial in the MDL that began in 2008 when AUC victims’ families sued Chiquita, claiming the company paid nearly $2 million to the AUC for protection in Colombia’s banana-producing regions. Chiquita executives testified that the extortions began in 1988 by the FARC and later by the AUC. In 2007, Chiquita pled guilty to federal charges related to these payments and agreed to a $25 million fine.
