Dole goes bananas over documentary, files defamation suit

By Eriq Gardner

Dole Food Company has filed an interesting defamation lawsuit against a Swedish filmmaker who made a hard-hitting documentary about the plight of banana workers in Nicaragua.

Fredrik Gertten's "Bananas!" includes Nicaraguan banana laborers who claim that various companies, including Dole, poisoned them with pesticides. The hero of the documentary is a California lawyer by the name of Juan Dominguez, who filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of the workers. The film climaxes with Dominguez obtaining a $2.5 million punitive damage award on behalf of five of 12 Nicaraguan plaintiffs.

However, after the documentary wrapped production, the court threw out the punitive damage award, reduced the compensatory damages award and reversed some of the decision. In addition, Dole says that the court found that Dominguez had committed a fraud "by knowingly participating in an elaborate conspiracy to develop and prosecute false claims on behalf of individuals who never worked on Dole-contracted farms and were never injured."

Dole says it approached the filmmakers of "Bananas!" to try to get them to make changes to the film to take into account the Court's latest ruling and detailed findings. Dole says it was rebuffed. Now, in a lawsuit filed in California Superior Court, Dole accuses Gertten of "actual malice" for ignoring the Court's decision and knowingly and recklessly implying false statements about the company. Here's the complaint.

The documentary screened last month at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Festival organizers presented "Bananas!" to the viewing public with a disclaimer. A week later, there was a filmmaker lunch session with Gertten presented this way:

"Between the film's completion and its screening at this year's Festival, critical new elements of the case have come to light. What happens when a story continues to evolve after the shooting stops? This case study and screening will explore the relationship between documentary filmmaking, objective and subjective point of view, as well as the rights and responsibilities of activist filmmaking."

Here's the interview with Gertten. 

The filmmaker says that two days after the trailer came out, Dole went to the judge in the first case and tried to stop the documentary from coming out. The judge denied the motion, citing the First Amendment. Gertten also claims that Dole sent letters all around town, including to the Los Angeles Times and Swedish ambassador, to stop the film. And when the film screened at the festival, Dole had 10 people in attendance, taking notes, laughing, and enjoying the film.

"We think this film is totally valid," he says. "We're happy with it."

UPDATE: The filmmakers' lawyer Richard J. Lee just issued a statement: "My clients and I believe that this suit is without merit and represents the latest in a continued line of intimidating harassment by a multinational corporation aimed squarely at a small, independent film and its filmmakers."