Monsanto Appeals To Toss $78.5M Roundup Verdict

Monsanto Appeals To Toss $78.5M Roundup Verdict

Introduction

On Tuesday, April 23, Monsanto asked a California appeals court to reverse a $78.5 million verdict awarded in the first Roundup trial over the herbicide's alleged cancer risks.

In its appeal, Bayer asserted that there was no evidence that glyphosate detected in Roundup and Roundup Range Pro products could cause cancer. The company said the court must either flip the verdict in its favor or order a new trial, contending that the lower court was wrong in preventing jurors from hearing evidence that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and foreign regulators had marked glyphosate as non-carcinogenic to humans. The $78.5 million verdict was a reduced award granted to the plaintiff after Judge Suzanne Bolanos slashed the initially awarded $289 million sanctioned by a San Francisco jury in August 2018.

Bayer, which faces over 13,000 Roundup cancer lawsuits over glyphosate exposure continues to defend itself by proclaiming that decades of scientific research and real-world use have shown glyphosate as safe for humans. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria overlooks the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2741; In Re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation) in the Northern District of California.