$2 Billion Glyphosate Verdict Weed Whacked To $86.7 Million

On July 25, 2019, Judge Winifred Smith of the Alameda County, California Superior Court reduced a $2 billion judgment entered by a jury against Monsanto Company, holding that the damages award was unconstitutionally high. The damages award was the third against the Bayer AG subsidiary in cases regarding whether popular herbicide Roundup causes Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The court reduced the judgment to $86.7 million.

The court held that there was clear and convincing evidence that Monsanto committed malice, oppression, or fraud. Specifically, the evidence showed that …

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Another Study Finds Popular Cereals and Snack Products Contain Traces of Glyphosate

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) – a consumer products testing and environmental advocacy organization – recently commissioned a new round of laboratory tests that it claims detected traces of glyphosate in various popular cereals and snack food. Glyphosate purportedly was in these foods because it is used in herbicides applied to various source crops, such as grains and corn.

In total, 21 oat-based food products were tested and all but four contained trace levels of glyphosate. The highest levels of glyphosate were detected at 833 …

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Roundup Litigation – Not Just Glyphosate Anymore

The massive verdicts against the manufacturer of Roundup in favor of plaintiffs claiming that use of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide caused their Non-Hodgkin lymphoma have rightly garnered significant attention. On the heels of verdicts of $289 million, later reduced to $78 million, and $80 million came the May 13, 2019 verdict of $2.055 billion in a case brought by Alva and Alberta Pilliod. This significantly higher verdict may be heavily influenced by an argument not previously emphasized by plaintiffs that Roundup contains not just glyphosate …

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Glyphosate Alert: ATSDR Releases Draft Toxicological Profile and Governments Enact Restrictive Legislation

There have been several notable updates regarding glyphosate. First, and notwithstanding the US EPA’s long maintained position that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans, earlier this month, another US agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), issued a draft report on the Toxicological Profile for Glyphosate.

The draft ATSDR report was reportedly conducted over the past several years. The report states that, among other things, “a possible association between exposure to glyphosate …

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Environmental Study of Glyphosate Raises Issues Beyond Personal Injury Litigation

Aside from toxic tort litigation pertaining to the use of glyphosate, a recent study has evaluated environmental issues pertaining to the world’s most widely used herbicide.

The study, out of McGill University, evaluates whether glyphosate may contribute to environmental phosphorus levels. Phosphorus pollution in U.S. water bodies is a major concern of the EPA, which has stated that nutrient pollution (phosphorus and nitrogen) is one of the country’s most widespread, costly, and challenging environmental problems. Phosphorus, although naturally existing, has also been added to the …

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Glyphosate Update: Judge Limits Previous Ruling, Allowing More Evidence at Trial Against Monsanto

The next batch of glyphosate-related trials are scheduled to take place over the next two months. As previously reported, Monsanto (which was acquired by Bayer last year) has been mired in toxic tort litigation over its glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup. The primary allegations center around whether certain exposure to glyphosate is causally related to the plaintiffs’ development of lymphoma. There are more than 9,300 lawsuits currently pending around the country.

Early in January, Monsanto scored a victory when U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria declined …

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A “Natural”? Court Dismisses Trace Glyphosate Claim Against Orange Juice Growers

Glyphosate litigation continues to grow apace.  In addition to the massive numbers of personal injury cases based on exposure to the popular herbicide, on which we have reported previously, the plaintiffs have begun to file cases alleging deceptive trade practices against companies that market food products containing trace amounts of glyphosate with labels like “Natural” or “Pure”.

 

One such case was brought in federal court in New York against Florida’s Natural Growers, Inc. and its parent company, Citrus World, Inc., makers of Florida’s Natural

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Breaking News / Glyphosate Update: Plaintiff Accepts Significantly Reduced Award in First of Its Kind Glyphosate Verdict

Last week, we reported that the judge who presided over the first trial related to alleged personal injuries from exposure to Monsanto’s glyphosate-containing herbicides slashed $211 million off of the $250 million awarded to the plaintiff in punitive damages. The reduction effectively brought the jury’s prior total award of $289 million down to $78.5 million – $39.25 million in punitive damages and $39.25 million in compensatory damages. The court had ruled that the plaintiff had to decide whether to accept the reduced award or seek …

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The Roundup Windup

Widespread personal injury litigation based on exposure to Roundup, the widely-used pesticide produced by the Monsanto Company, is no longer a plaintiffs’ bar pipe-dream — it is close to becoming a reality. Hundreds of cases have been filed, mostly in St. Louis and San Francisco, and the first trial of such a matter will commence this week in California state court.

As we have reported previously, there has been broad and long-running controversy over whether glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, may be carcinogenic to …

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Rounded Down: An Update on California Glyphosate Litigation

Last November, we brought your attention to litigation in federal court in California regarding the listing of glyphosate as a substance “known to the state to cause cancer.” Since then, there have been developments in both the originally reported federal court case and a state court case on the same subject.

First, a refresher: glyphosate is a common pesticide sprayed on more than 200 types of crops across four million acres in California. Monsanto Company, the principal plaintiff in both cases, produces glyphosate in …

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