Mayer Brown secures complete victory for US Sugar and Florida sugar industry over pollution claims

Mayer Brown litigators secured a sweet and complete victory in Coffie et al. v. Florida Crystals Corp. et al., in the Southern District of Florida on behalf of US Sugar Corporation and other sugar growers in the state of Florida related to the common practice of pre-harvest sugarcane burning.

In 2019, Florida residents filed a putative class action against the Florida sugar industry alleging that emissions from their operations caused property damage.

After more than two years of litigation that included significant wins in dismissing major parts of plaintiffs’ initial complaint, on February 25, 2022 the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their claims with prejudice after US Sugar produced air monitoring data showing that the air quality in the putative class area was safe and complied with regulatory standards.

The Chicago-based Mayer Brown Litigation & Dispute Resolution team was led by partners Mark Ter Molen and Tim Bishop and included counsel Jaimy Hamburg and Matthew Sostrin and associates Avi Kupfer and Hannah Vanderlaan.