NY Times: Bias Issue Faces Judge in Monsanto Case

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Bias Issue Faces Judge in Monsanto Case

CHICAGO, Jan. 8 - A federal judge now presiding over a price-fixing case involving the Monsanto Company did not disclose to the parties in the case that in 1997 and 1998 he was listed as a lawyer representing Monsanto in a case that covered some of the same issues, according to lawyers and court documents.

The absence of disclosure that the judge and his former law firm had business dealings with Monsanto in the 1990's has raised conflict of interest questions among some lawyers in the price-fixing case.

Before his appointment to the court in 1998, the judge, Rodney W. Sippel, was chosen by his law firm, now known as Husch & Eppenberger, as one of three lawyers to represent Monsanto in a civil lawsuit against Pioneer Hi-Bred International, another big seed company.

The chairman of Husch & Eppenberger acknowledged that Judge Sippel was listed in court papers for five months as one of the main lawyers for Monsanto in that suit, but he said that Judge Sippel never actually did any work on the case.

Bias Issue Faces Judge in Monsanto Case

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