Bayer's Request for Roundup Appeal Rejected by California Court
October 22 2020 - 2:19PM
Dow Jones News
By Jacob Bunge and Sara Randazzo
The California Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by Bayer
AG seeking to reverse a jury verdict that the company's Roundup
herbicide caused a groundskeeper's cancer, leaving the company with
few remaining options to avoid paying a $20.4 million judgment.
The German drug and agriculture conglomerate had challenged a
2018 verdict in California state court that found the company's
Roundup products posed a danger to users like plaintiff Dewayne
"Lee" Johnson, and that the company failed to warn consumers of
potential health risks. It was the first of three jury decisions in
favor of Roundup-using plaintiffs, helping build a wave of lawsuits
and eventually leading Bayer to strike a $10.9 billion settlement
deal with tens of thousands of plaintiffs in July.
Bayer didn't admit to any wrongdoing as part of the July
settlement and will continue to sell Roundup. The herbicide is the
world's most widely used, sprayed on residential gardens and on
tens of millions of acres of crops genetically engineered to
withstand it.
Bayer acquired Monsanto, Roundup's maker, in a $63 billion deal
that closed weeks before the jury ruled in favor of Mr. Johnson, a
former school groundskeeper. The company has maintained that
Roundup is safe, citing regulatory reviews by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and other authorities.
The company has said it would continue to challenge the three
jury verdicts as it implements the broader settlement. On Friday, a
federal appeals court will hear arguments in Bayer's challenge to a
jury verdict in favor of Edwin Hardeman, a Northern California
resident who claimed his yearslong Roundup use led to his
non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
In July, a California appeals court ruled against Bayer's appeal
in the Johnson case, though damages were reduced to $20.4 million
from an already reduced $78.5 million. In denying to review that
decision Thursday, the California Supreme Court didn't weigh in on
the merits of the case. California's highest court accepts only a
fraction of appellate requests.
"The time has come for Monsanto to end its baseless appeals and
pay Mr. Johnson the money it owes him," said a spokesman for the
Miller Firm, which represented Mr. Johnson in the case.
A Bayer spokesman said the company was disappointed the
California court didn't take up the appeal and was considering its
legal options.
The company could try to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme
Court, but only if a question of federal law is at stake.
Write to Jacob Bunge at jacob.bunge@wsj.com and Sara Randazzo at
sara.randazzo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 22, 2020 14:04 ET (18:04 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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