Dive Brief:
- The European Court of Justice dismissed Dole Food Inc.'s attempt to challenge a fine it was mandated to pay for allegedly fixing prices of banana imports into the European Union.
- Dole had appealed this in 2012, but was defeated by the European General Court then.
- Dole argued that "the commission did not prove that the weekly pre-pricing communications were intended to fix prices, and quibbled that the lower court had not allowed it to adequately defend itself against the regulators' accusations," Courthouse News Service reported.
Dive Insight:
This isn't the only lawsuit Dole has been involved in as of late. Dole's CEO David Murdock has been in the headlines for allegedly coercing the board into agreeing to privatization of the company. At his trial in February, Murdock attempted to avoid certain questions about finances, claiming "no knowledge" of several of the numbers, according to Bloomberg.