Lawyers for several thousand Ecuadorian citizens suing DynCorp International over alleged exposure to toxins through an aerial herbicide spraying operation are preparing to appeal a recent order dismissing the case. In 2001, more than 2,000 Ecuadorians sued DynCorp in Washington federal court, claiming that the herbicide made them sick, hurt their animals, and ruined their land. In a February 15 opinion that was unsealed last week, U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts excluded testimony from the plaintiffs' sole expert. Without that testimony, Roberts found that the plaintiffs couldn't prove that DynCorp's actions caused their injuries and dismissed the case…[The] lead counsel for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs…is "assessing which of the many possible appealable issues they will pursue in the Court of Appeals."…"The company's position from the beginning has been that the spraying operations were completely safe…" [a lead attorney for DynCorp] said...