Dole Food Co. went on the legal offensive Tuesday in the latest cases accusing it of using a banned pesticide at its Nicaraguan banana plantations three decades ago, causing sterility among workers.

Attorneys for the Westlake Village produce company alleged during a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing that two attorneys who brought the cases recruited Nicaraguan men who had never worked on the banana farms to make fraudulent sterility claims.

“Plaintiff lawyers hired captains to recruit thousands of men to pose as banana works,” said Scott Edelman, an attorney from L.A. firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher who represented Dole. LLP “They told them if they participated in the scheme they would become rich.”

In a case that was decided in 2007, Dole was hit with a $1.5 million judgment after a jury found the company liable for making five Nicaraguan banana workers sterile through exposure to the pesticide DBCP. The chemical was banned in the U.S. in 1977 after it became known that it could harm human health. Dole is appealing the judgment case.

Dole is asking Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney to dismiss the two latest cases based on the allegations of fraud. The judge is expected to make a decision from the bench on Thursday.

One of the attorneys accuse of recruiting bogus plaintiffs is Los Angeles sole practitioner Juan Dominquez. He did not speak during the morning hearing. However, an attorney with a Sacramento law firm that is the lead plaintiffs’ attorney on the cases also sought to have the cases dismissed. Chaney refused to do so saying she wanted to hear all evidence regarding the alleged fraud.

“We are shocked and saddened at the allegations regarding the conduct,” said Michael Axline of plaintiffs’ law firm Miller Axline & Sawyer.