Bayer AG has announced that it will not ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a $20.6 million award from a California state jury for a school groundskeeper who claimed that Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup caused his cancer.
Bayer’s decision to not pursue further appeal means the verdict for the groundskeeper, the first Roundup verdict in the nation, will stand. Instead, Bayer expressed that it will focus on appealing the second Roundup verdict in federal court.
“The decision is not based on the merits of this case,” Bayer said in an e-mailed statement, referring to a lawsuit brought by Dewayne Johnson and decided in 2018 by a San Francisco jury. The federal case being reviewed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals “will serve as a better case for review by the Supreme Court,” Bayer said.
After losing three high-profile trials, Bayer has negotiated with tens of thousands of plaintiffs who have sued the company, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, over claims that Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. Specifically, plaintiffs allege that glyphosate, Roundup’s active herbicide, causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and that Monsanto concealed what it knew about its product’s health risks.
In addition to continue its challenge in the federal appeals court, Bayer is also appealing the third verdict, which was awarded in California state court.
Read more about Roundup’s decision not to seek Supreme Court review here.
Domina Law has been actively involved in Roundup cancer litigation representing victims and families who have suffered devastating losses. Our firm also filed one of the first Roundup lawsuits in the nation on behalf of Dave Domina’s brother Larry Domina, a third-generation farmer who used Roundup on his Nebraska farm for many years before he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2012.
Although Bayer is still challenging some rulings in the litigation, the company agreed in June 2020 to pay roughly $11 billion to settle thousands of claims. Because at least $2 billion will be used to support a separate class agreement for future cases, victims and families still have time to take legal action. Domina Law is available to discuss more during a consultation.