ArborGen Workers Awarded $53.5M in Compensation Suit

Ten current and former workers at Summerville (South Carolina)-based biotechnology firm ArborGen Inc. won a $53.5 million judgment against their employer and some of the nation’s top forest products companies after a judge ruled the companies tricked workers into accepting incentive plan changes that depleted most of their wealth.

Judge Edgar Dickson also entered judgments against International Paper, MeadWestvaco—now WestRock—and New Zealand-based Rubicon Inc., as well as some of those forestry companies’ board members, following a trial in Dorchester County that lasted nearly three weeks.