Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Bayer must pay US$78 million in latest Roundup cancer trial, jury finds

Roundup containers are displayed on a store shelf in San Francisco on Feb. 24, 2019. (Haven Daley / AP Photo) Roundup containers are displayed on a store shelf in San Francisco on Feb. 24, 2019. (Haven Daley / AP Photo)
Share

Bayer must pay US$78 million to a Pennsylvania man who said he got cancer from using the company's Roundup weedkiller, a state court jury in Philadelphia found on Thursday.

The verdict follows previous consecutive victories for Bayer in that court. The company had won 14 of the previous 20 trials over Roundup, though it has been hit with several massive verdicts in the litigation, including last November for $1.56 billion, later reduced to $611 million, and one in January for US$2.25 billion, later reduced to $400 million.

Tom Kline and Jason Itkin, lawyers for plaintiff William Melissen and his wife, Margaret, said in a statement that Bayer had "acted with reckless indifference to people's safety."

The company "still has not gotten the message that it needs to change its ways," they said.

The jury awarded US$3 million in compensatory damages and $75 million in punitive damages.

"We disagree with the jury's verdict, as it conflicts with the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and the consensus of regulatory bodies and their scientific assessments worldwide," Bayer said in a statement.

The company said it believed it had a strong argument for reducing the punitive damages on appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that punitive damages should generally be no more than nine times compensatory damages.

The Melissens sued Bayer in 2021. They alleged that William, like other Roundup plaintiffs, developed a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma from exposure to glyphosate, which was the active ingredient in Roundup sold for home use until last year.

Melissen said he used the product at home and at work from 1992 until 2020, when he was diagnosed. He alleges that both glyphosate and another chemical in Roundup caused his cancer.

Bayer maintains that glyphosate does not cause cancer and that the lawsuits are meritless. It acquired Roundup as part of its US$63 billion purchase of agrochemical company Monsanto in 2018.

The German company settled most of the then-pending Roundup litigation in 2020 for US$10.9 billion, but currently faces about 58,000 claims, according to its most recent financial report.

Bayer won a significant legal victory in August, when the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled that federal law shields Bayer from state law claims, which conflicts with previous rulings by other federal appeals courts.

Bayer has said it will seek to have the U.S. Supreme Court resolve that conflict, and that a victory there could effectively end the Roundup litigation.

Bayer had asked the Philadelphia state court to follow the 3rd Circuit and throw out the case. The 3rd Circuit's jurisdiction includes federal courts in Pennsylvania, but state courts are not legally bound to follow it. That bid was denied, allowing the Melissens' case to go to trial, but the company is appealing the denial.

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

A Halifax-area couple has been ordered to pay nearly $61,000 in damages and $4,000 in court costs after their dog attacked and injured a homecare nurse at their residence in 2016.

The superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division (WSD) has apologized over a message displayed during a professional development day on Wednesday.

Police north of Toronto have released video of what they’re describing as a violent, targeted robbery in Thornhill, where suspects boxed in the victim’s car and made off with a suitcase filled with cash.

Local Spotlight

Jeff Warner from Aidie Creek Gardens in the northern Ontario community of Englehart has a passion for growing big pumpkins and his effort is paying off in more ways than one.

Saskatchewan’s Jessica Campbell has made hockey history, becoming the first ever female assistant coach in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Have you ever seen videos of hovercrafts online or on TV and thought, 'Wow, I wish I could ride one of those.' One Alberta man did, and then built his own.

A B.C. couple is getting desperate – and creative – in their search for their missing dog.

Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.

A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.

Bernie Hicks, known as the ‘Batman of Amherst,’ always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.

Bubi’s Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.

Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.

Stay Connected