Bayer AG’s Monsanto subsidiary persuaded a Missouri judge to chop nearly $1 billion from a $1.5 billion jury verdict that was one in all the most important in six years by which the corporate has paid hundreds has fought claims that its weedkiller Roundup causes cancer.
Judge Daniel Green in Jefferson City, Missouri, refused to grant Monsanto’s retrial motions, order a brand new trial or vacate all the verdict, but as an alternative reduced the punitive damages portion of the award by greater than 60% to about $550 million, based on court records.
The reduction within the Missouri award could provide relief for Leverkusen-based Bayer, whose Monsanto subsidiary has been hit with multiple nine- and ten-figure sums over the past six months due to Roundup. Faced with so many legal burdens, the corporate’s recent CEO faced difficult decisions spin off Become a part of the pharmaceutical-agrochemical conglomerate or contribute a unit to it Strategic bankruptcy.
Bayer, which bought Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018, said Friday it will ask Missouri appeals courts to review all the ruling.
“Although the court reduced the unconstitutionally excessive damages award, the company believes that the court incorrectly applied the law to damages,” the corporate said in an emailed statement.
Jurors in November had awarded the three plaintiffs a complete of $61.1 million in actual damages and $500 million each in punitive damages over allegations that years of use of Roundup on their lawns and gardens caused non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma caused.
US Supreme Court
The March 15 reduction was expected since the U.S. Supreme Court has stated that punitive damages should be proportionate to the underlying damages and has capped punitive awards at 10 times the actual damages.
Green reduced punitive damages to about $550 million to fulfill the Supreme Court’s threshold. He also ordered Bayer to post an $800 million bond to ensure payment of the judgment whether it is upheld on appeal. Bayer had asked for $50 million in bail, court documents show.
“The judge actually agreed with the plaintiffs’ proposal to reduce the punitive damages amounts to nine times their actual damages.” Jay Utley, an attorney for the previous Roundup users, said in an email Friday. “The verdicts are consistent with the evidence of Monsanto’s willful, malicious and reckless disregard for consumer safety and the injuries suffered by these plaintiffs.”
Philadelphia Prize
In January, a state court jury in Philadelphia ordered Monsanto to pay more $2.2 billion to a former landscape gardener. This price can be more likely to be reduced.
Two years ago, Bayer committed as much as $16 billion to resolve greater than 100,000 Roundup-related cases. The company is now facing a second wave of lawsuits alleging that glyphosate and other components of the herbicide are carcinogenic. The company said in Friday’s statement that it has won 14 of the last 20 cases heard in court.
Bayer agreed to modify from the glyphosate version of Roundup to recent lively weedkiller ingredients within the U.S. consumer market by the tip of last 12 months. The plaintiffs allege the corporate sold Roundup without properly warning them concerning the cancer risks.
The Missouri case brought together the claims of former Roundup users living across the United States. James Draeger and his wife, a landscaper, used the herbicide of their home gardens in Mississippi and in business work. According to court documents, Dan Anderson, a San Diego resident, and Valorie Gunther of New York used it to kill weeds of their gardens.
The case is Anderson v. Monsanto, Case No. 22AC-CC00968, Missouri Circuit Court for Cole County (Jefferson City).
