FTC, States Win Court OK to Proceed in Pesticide Case (Correct)

Pesticide producers Syngenta AG and Corteva Inc. must confront antitrust claims in a suit brought by the Federal Trade Commission and a dozen states over their rebate program, after a federal judge denied the companies’ motion to dismiss.

Judge Thomas D. Schroeder of the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in a Jan. 12 opinion said that the FTC’s complaint plausibly alleges the companies’ loyalty programs for existing customers leveraged the defendants’ “monopolist status” and exacerbated already high costs for cheaper generic competitors to enter the market.

The FTC and 12 states including California and Texas ...