Roundup MDL: Three Law Firms Reach An Agreement With Bayer

Roundup MDL: Three Law Firms Reach An Agreement With Bayer

Introduction

On Monday, three major law firms representing several plaintiffs involved in the Roundup litigation indicated that they reached an agreement with the manufacturer, Bayer.

Bayer AG has made the new deal with California-based Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman law firm, the Andrus Wagstaff firm from Colorado, and the Moore Law Group of Kentucky. The notification of the deal indicating a “fully-executed and binding Master Settlement Agreement with Monsanto” is filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Last month, the firms had raised doubt over the manufacturer's $10 billion settlement agreement announced this year. They outlined their concerns with U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, overseeing the Roundup multidistrict litigation docket, stating that the manufacturer was welching on its deal.

In response, Judge Chhabria said that he would not lift the stay on the litigation as he has confidence in Feinberg’s ability to reach a resolution in 30 days, but suggested parties to start to rework on getting the litigation back on track as he won't extend the stay any further. The parties have been asked to be prepared by the next case management conference that is scheduled for September 24.

Last Thursday, Bayer released a statement indicating that progress has been made in the development of a “revised” plan to resolve potential future Roundup litigation. The revised class plan will be finalized over the coming weeks, which will be followed by a motion for preliminary approval of the plan.

Judge Chhabria received several confidential letters alleging the Roundup manufacturer of reneging on its deal with the plaintiffs in the recent hearing. He concluded that he would not lift the stay, expressing his confidence in the plaintiff's ability to reach a resolution in 30 days after hearing arguments from both parties. The jury even said that he won't extend the stay any further, so the parties should start reworking on getting the litigation back on track. The jury has asked the parties to be prepared by the next case management conference that is scheduled for September 24.

Roundup is one of the most commonly used weedkillers that contains Glyphosate. Glyphosate was patented by a U.S. company, Monsanto in 1970. Monsanto was acquired by Bayer on June 7, 2018.

The company has acknowledged the new filing of 52,500 Roundup lawsuits apart from the current 125,000 lawsuits. All the lawsuits are consolidated under MDL No. 2741 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.