Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan
Inc. POT announced today that it and its wholly owned subsidiary PCS
Sales (USA) Inc. have settled eight private antitrust lawsuits, which were
filed by direct and indirect purchasers of potash in the United States in U.S.
federal courts in 2008, for a total of $43.75 million. The settlements are
subject to final approval of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District
of Illinois. PotashCorp expressly denies any wrong-doing but decided to
settle after weighing the multi-year financial cost and resources that would
be required to defend these meritless allegations. The other potash producers
who were defendants in these cases also have settled with the plaintiffs.
"These allegations are completely without merit and we deny all of the claims
asserted in the lawsuit," said Bill Doyle, President and CEO for PotashCorp.
"The reality is that we weighed the multi-year effort in time and resources
that would have been required to defend this lawsuit, and determined that our
management should remain focused on the production of potash and serving our
customers. This settlement serves as another example of the well documented
abuse of class actions in the United States where self-interested plaintiffs'
attorneys enlist nominal plaintiffs - some of whom have served in that
capacity in multiple class actions - to assert meritless claims in lawsuits
where neither the plaintiffs' lawyers nor their clients have anything to lose
but in which defendants face the enormous burden, distraction and expense of
litigation even though we did nothing wrong. This is simply a wasteful and
unnecessary cost of doing business in the United States."
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