Bayer Loses Roundup Appeal But Damages Are Reduced -- WSJ
21 Juli 2020 - 09:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Sara Randazzo
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (July 21, 2020).
Bayer AG lost an appeal in the first case to go to trial linking
its Roundup weedkiller to cancer, though the California court
greatly reduced the amount of damages awarded to $20.4 million.
The Monday decision by the California Court of Appeal comes in
the case of school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, who won a 2018
jury trial blaming Roundup for causing his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The jury's initial $289.2 million award sent Bayer's stock tumbling
and was followed by an even larger $2 billion award in a second
trial.
Bayer, which inherited Roundup's legal liabilities with its $63
billion acquisition of seed and pesticide maker Monsanto Co. two
years ago, recently said it would pay up to $10.9 billion to settle
tens of thousands of Roundup lawsuits. The company said at the time
it was still pursuing appeals in the three cases that have gone to
trial.
Bayer has steadfastly said that Roundup and the weedkiller's
active ingredient, glyphosate, are safe and backed by regulators
including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The company had
argued to the California court that the jury decision should be
thrown out in part because it conflicts with an EPA position
preventing the company from putting a cancer-warning label on the
product.
The court disagreed, finding that while the EPA currently says
glyphosate isn't harmful to humans and that no cancer warning is
needed, "that opinion, in the abstract, isn't binding on this
court."
In shutting down separate arguments Bayer had made, the
three-judge panel also said, "In our view, Johnson presented
abundant -- and certainly substantial -- evidence that glyphosate,
together with the other ingredients in Roundup products, caused his
cancer." The judges pointed to experts who told jurors that Roundup
could cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma generally as well as Mr. Johnson's
cancer in particular.
The court reduced damages for economic loss to $10.2 million and
said any punitive damage should match, granting total damages of
$20.4 million. The judge who oversaw the trial had already reduced
the original award to $78.5 million.
Brent Wisner, an attorney for Mr. Johnson, called the Monday
ruling "another major victory" for Mr. Johnson and his family. He
said the reduction in damages is "a function of a deep flaw in
California tort law" that makes it difficult to have money awarded
for a shortened lifespan, an issue he hopes would be addressed by
the California Supreme Court.
Bayer said Monday the reduction in damages "is a step in the
right direction" but that it continues to believe the jury's
decision was "inconsistent with the evidence at trial and the law."
The company said it will consider appealing the case to
California's highest court.
Glyphosate's safety came under scrutiny in 2015 after the
International Agency for Research on Cancer, a unit of the World
Health Organization, classified glyphosate as likely having the
potential to cause cancer.
The court said Monday it was underwhelmed by Bayer's argument
that IARC's finding was an outlier that the jury shouldn't have
relied on so heavily.
The appellate court's decision could make it more difficult for
Bayer to reach settlements with holdout plaintiffs lawyers who
haven't yet signed on to its recent $10.9 billion deal. Bayer said
last month it had agreements with lawyers representing 75% of the
known 125,000 cases, and was working to resolve the rest.
Jim Onder, a St. Louis-based lawyer who represents around 24,000
Roundup clients that have yet to settle, said the Monday ruling
"keeps us steadfast in our determination to take cases to
trial."
Bayer is also revamping a $1.25 billion component of the deal
that is meant to resolve future Roundup lawsuits, after a federal
judge indicated he was unlikely to approve the proposal. The
company doesn't need a court's blessing on the settlement of
existing cases, which it said will cost between $8.8 billion and
$9.6 billion.
--Jacob Bunge contributed to this article.
Write to Sara Randazzo at sara.randazzo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 21, 2020 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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