In 2007, EarthRights International (ERI) filed a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of Colombian families charging Chiquita Brands International, Inc., the multi-national produce company, with funding and arming known terrorist organizations in Colombia in order to maintain its profitable control of Colombia's banana growing regions starting in the mid-1990s.  The case, originally filed in New Jersey, was subsequently coordinated with several other similar cases against Chiquita in West Palm Beach, Florida.  Chiquita filed a motion to dismiss in 2008, which the plaintiffs opposed.  (Because different cases were filed in different places before being coordinated in Florida, different sets of plaintiffs also filed side-briefs on the specific legal issues relevant to their cases.)  

In 2010, the plaintiffs filed amended complaints; Chiquita submitted an additional motion to dismiss, and the parties submitted additional briefs on the motion.  On June 3, 2011, the district court denied Chiquita's motion to dismiss, finding that claims for extrajudicial killing, torture, crimes against humanity, and war crimes could proceed.  The case will now proceed into the class certification and discovery stages.

In addition to ERI, counsel for the plaintiffs include Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Paul Hoffman, Arturo Carrillo, Judith Brown Chomsky, and John DeLeon.