Bloomberg writer Joel Rosenblatt reported earlier this month that, “The jury in Bayer AG’s third Roundup weedkiller trial was urged by a plaintiffs’ lawyer to consider socking the company with $1 billion in damages as punishment for covering up the health risks of the herbicide for decades.
“The aggressive demand on behalf an elderly couple who claim they got cancer from exposure to Roundup shows that plaintiffs are becoming bolder after winning the first two trials against Bayer, which together yielded $159 million in damages.
“The couple’s attorney said the billion-dollar request is roughly based on the gross profit of $892 million recorded in 2017 by the agricultural-chemicals division of Monsanto, which was making Roundup long before Bayer acquired the company last year.”
The Bloomberg article noted, “‘That is a number that changes things,’ lawyer Brent Wisner said Wednesday at the close of a trial in state court in Oakland, California. He also asked the jury to award about $55 million to compensate Alva and Alberta Pilliod for economic damages like hospital bills and noneconomic losses such as pain and suffering.”
The article stated that, “Bayer Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann faces increased shareholder pressure over the litigation it inherited from Monsanto. The agrochemical giant that operates out of St. Louis is the named defendant in U.S. lawsuits over Roundup filed by 13,400 people, a number that jumps by thousands with each passing quarter.”
Mr. Rosenblatt added that, “Bayer denies that Roundup causes cancer and the company has been holding out hope for a court win that would give [Bayer Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann] some breathing space as the company hones its legal response to the swelling wave of litigation. A third loss, however, could force the company to accelerate talks on a global settlement, which analysts have said could top $5 billion. The judge in San Francisco handling the federal suits canceled a trial scheduled for May 20 to allow for confidential negotiations.”
