The Dole Food Company on Wednesday dropped its defamation lawsuit against the Swedish filmmaker who created the movie Bananas!* after complaints that it was trying to limit free speech.
The film, a documentary about a 2007 trial in Los Angeles, told the story of workers who claimed they were injured by a pesticide while working on a Dole banana plantation in Nicaragua in the 1970s. The plaintiffs were awarded millions in damages, but by the time the film was screened this past June, Dole argued that the jury’s verdict was no longer valid.
