KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana |Settlement for LA Crawfish Farmers

Settlement for LA Crawfish Farmers

July 30, 2004
Reported by Associated Press

Hundreds of south Louisiana crawfish farmers are in line to share in $24 million they won in a legal settlement with the maker of a pesticide linked to crop losses.

On Monday, the process begins to determine how much each eligible farmer is entitled to. A claims office has been set up in Opelousas. Earlier this year, crawfish farmers won a $45 million class-action settlement for losses linked to Icon, rice seed treated with the pesticide Fipronil. About $21 million in the settlement was eaten up in court costs, administrative and lawyer fees.

Donald Benoit, who manages more than 700 acres of crawfish ponds near Gueydan and operates a crawfish processing business, claims he lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because of Icon.