More Than 40,000 Roundup Injury Lawsuits Pending
When Bayer purchased Monsanto for $63 Million, it probably never imagined a future where it would be defending itself in more than 40,000 lawsuits. However, that’s precisely where Bayer finds itself today.
According to a report by The Pre Settlement Funding Company, more than 40,000 individuals have filed Roundup injury lawsuits. Those lawsuits claim, among other things, that they’ve been diagnosed with cancer because they were exposed to Monsanto’s popular pesticide, Roundup.
Bayer Has Lost Big in Court So Far
To date, three Roundup injury lawsuits have gone to trial. All three yielded massive jury awards in favor of the plaintiffs.
- Dewayne Johnson was awarded $289 Million after a jury determined that his cancer diagnosis was likely related to the fact that he worked with Roundup weedkiller for decades as a groundskeeper.
- Edwin Hardeman received a jury award of $80 Million because a jury believed Monsanto’s failure to warn him about risks related to Roundup.
- Alva and Alberta Pilliod were awarded $2 Billion in punitive damages and another $55 Million in compensatory damages after the spouses were both diagnosed with cancer.
All three jury awards have been reduced by a higher court because the Supreme Court has held that while there is no hard cap on punitive damages, any award must be reasonably related to the compensatory award. However, Bayer is still on the hook for tens of millions of dollars. That’s just for the first three cases to be heard. The company has yet to secure a victory in a Roundup jury trial.
Experts Estimate Roundup Cases Will Settle For as Much as $10 Billion
Bayer likely can’t afford to keep going to court to defend itself against individuals who believe their cancer is directly related to Roundup. For both financial and reputational reasons. Even though the company has maintained that its pesticide is perfectly safe, it has shown signs that it’s increasingly willing to settle Roundup disputes out of court.
A few months ago, Bayer reportedly hired a lawyer to consult the company’s supervisory board about the Roundup problem. This was seen, by many, as a signal that the company is trying to find a way to put the outstanding lawsuits to rest without another courtroom loss. More recently, Bayer agreed to postpone two California trials that involved young plaintiffs so that settlement discussions could proceed.
Some experts believe that, given the jury awards and evidence of Monsanto’s deceptive and fraudulent practices, Bayer could ultimately end up settling the outstanding lawsuits for anywhere between $2 Billion and $10 Billion.
Is It Too Late to File a Roundup Lawsuit?
No. While thousands of Roundup lawsuits have been consolidated in multidistrict litigation (MDLs), that doesn’t mean that individuals with legitimate claims can’t also file suit. New lawsuits can be added to existing MDLs or proceed separately in state or federal court.
You might want to consider contacting an attorney to learn about your legal options if:
- You have been exposed to Roundup weedkiller at home, work, or school, and
- You have been diagnosed with a health issue, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, that has been linked to the pesticide.
Cancer isn’t the only devastating side effect linked to glyphosate and Roundup. You may have a case if you suffer from:
- Infertility
- An autoimmune disease
- ADHD
- Autism
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Dementia
- Asthma, or
- Parkinson’s disease.
This is not an exhaustive list. Contact a lawyer who has experience handling Roundup cases to learn more.