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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana and 15 other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to freeze assets involved in Corteva Inc.’s split into two companies, alleging the separation would put valuable assets beyond the reach of claims related to so-called “forever chemicals.”
The division — which created two independent, publicly traded businesses — became official Thursday as the company separated its crop protection business, which retains the Corteva name, and the seed business, which operates as Vylor Inc.
The lawsuit, filed in Marion Superior Court 1 in Indianapolis, names as defendants Corteva, based in Indianapolis; Vylor, based in Johnston, Iowa; and EIDP Inc., also based in Indianapolis. Fifteen states and the territory Guam are the plaintiffs.
Corteva was spun off as a public company in 2019. It had previously operated as the agriculture division of DowDuPont, which itself had been formed in 2017 in a $62 billion merger between Dow Chemical and Old DuPont.
Corteva is the parent company of EIDP, also known as Old DuPont, which was known as E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. until 2023.
The suit seeks to unwind a transfer that the plaintiffs allege moved Old DuPont’s most valuable business assets into Vylor while leaving liabilities related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, with Old DuPont. The plaintiffs contend the transaction put those assets beyond the reach of parties pursuing PFAS claims.
According to a press release from the office of Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, the transfer of three-quarters of the value of the companies into Vylor puts money out of reach of states and other PFAS plaintiffs. The lawsuit alleges the separation was structured so Vylor took the assets and none of the liabilities for the PFAS lawsuits.
“What makes the Vylor transaction unique — and even more concerning — is that Old DuPont moved approximately $40 billion in asset value to Vylor, but Vylor has explicitly disclaimed any responsibility for Old DuPont’s conduct related to PFAS,” the lawsuit says.
“As a result, the assets that Old DuPont transferred to Vylor are no longer available to satisfy Old DuPont’s massive PFAS liabilities, and are outside the reach of Old DuPont’s creditors. Worse yet, Vylor only paid Old DuPont pennies on the dollar: Old DuPont received approximately $5 billion in value in the form of a distribution and debt exchange in exchange for assets worth $40 billion. And Old DuPont and Corteva are left unable to satisfy all of Old DuPont’s PFAS and other liabilities—including its liabilities to Plaintiffs.”
The plaintiffs are asking the court for a temporary restraining order that would freeze the assets. The proposed order would restrict Old DuPont and Corteva from using remaining funds and conducting stock buybacks, and would bar Vylor from selling or pledging the seed assets it received in the separation.
Corteva did not immediately respond to IBJ’s request for comment.
In 2024, the Indiana Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against 22 companies, alleging that they knew the health risks and potential damages caused by so-called “forever chemicals” that they manufactured. Among the companies sued were 3M Co., BASF Corp., Chemours Co., Corteva Inc., DuPont de Nemours Inc. and United Technologies Corp.
“Many families have been hurt, and are still being hurt, by these micro chemicals that several companies knew were dangerous, and we will not sit by and let them game the system by moving their most valuable assets out of reach and leaving the PFAS liabilities they created behind,” Rokita said in Thursday’s press release. “They spent years setting up this transfer to avoid paying for actions that have harmed so many, and this lawsuit is how we stop them from getting away with it.”
A hearing for a temporary restraining order is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday in Marion Superior Court 1. Along with Indiana and Guam, Alaska, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Washington are listed as plaintiffs.
The Indiana-led case seeks relief similar to what 21 states and nine local governments requested last month from a federal judge in South Carolina: a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to halt Corteva’s separation.
In that case, California Attorney General Rob Bonta told the judge overseeing lawsuits related to aqueous film-forming foams, which are used in firefighting, that moving nearly $40 billion of Corteva’s assets from E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., or Old DuPont, into Vylor would make New Corteva financially unstable and unable to pay liabilities related to PFAS
Last October, Corteva’s board of directors unanimously approved a plan to separate the company’s crop protection and seed businesses.
Corteva remains headquartered in Indianapolis, while Vylor is to be based at Corteva’s existing campus in Johnston, Iowa. Corteva has roughly 3,000 employees in Iowa, according to a report by Iowa-based farm economic group America’s Cultivation Corridor.
Luke Kissam, most recently CEO of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Albemarle Corp., joined Corteva on June 1 as CEO of the crop protection business. After the corporate split, Kissam became CEO of Corteva. Former Corteva CEO Chuck Magro became CEO of Vylor.
About 2,000 of Corteva’s 22,000-plus employees are based in Indiana, including about 1,500 at its Zionsville Road headquarters, just south of the junction of interstates 465 and 865 on the city’s northwest side. The company plans to maintain its current office location.
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