Bayer hit with $332 million judgement in Roundup cancer trial
A California jury has awarded $332 million to a man who sued chemical giant Monsanto Co., claiming his cancer was linked to decades of use of its weedkiller Roundup.
A San Diego Superior Court jury awarded damages Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by Mike Dennis, 57, of Carlsbad. He was diagnosed in 2020 with a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
His lawsuit claimed his illness was linked to Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate.
Dennis has undergone treatment and has been in remission for nearly three years, but there is no cure, said Adam Peavy, one of his attorneys. KNSD-TV.
“His doctors told him it was going to come back and we’re just waiting to see if that happens,” Peavy said.
The jury found that Monsanto, which is now a division of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology giant Bayer, failed to warn of the risks associated with Roundup. But jurors also ruled partly in favor of Bayer by finding that the product design was not defective and that the company was not negligent.
Dennis was awarded $7 million in compensatory damages and $325 million in punitive damages.
In a statement to KNSD-TV, Bayer said he believes “we have a strong appellate case to have this unfounded verdict overturned and the unconstitutionally excessive damages eliminated or reduced.”
“Significant and reversible legal and evidentiary errors were made during this trial,” Bayer added.
Bayer bought Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018 and is trying to navigate thousands of Roundup-related claims and lawsuits. In 2020, Bayer announcement it would pay up to $10.9 billion to settle some 125,000 filed and unfiled claims.
