Florida jurors are expected to start deliberations on Friday in a long-running case against Chiquita Brands International that seeks compensation for family members of individuals who were allegedly murdered by an armed group in Colombia.
The class action was filed after a 2007 U.S. criminal case in which Chiquita pleaded guilty to financing a designated global terrorist group and agreed to pay a $25 million fine. Chiquita voluntarily reported payments to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), which totaled at least $1.7 million, to the U.S. Department of Justice in 2003—two years after the U.S. government classified the AUC as a terrorist group.
