© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Bottles of Roundup, a model owned by Bayer, are seen on the market in a retailer in Manhattan, New York Metropolis, U.S., June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Picture
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court docket on Monday refused to dismiss a Georgia physician’s lawsuit claiming that Bayer AG (ETR:)’s Roundup weedkiller brought on most cancers, the newest setback within the German firm’s efforts to fend off hundreds of comparable instances carrying doubtlessly billions of {dollars} in legal responsibility.
A 3-judge panel of the Atlanta-based eleventh U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals rejected Bayer (OTC:)’s argument that federal regulators’ approval of Roundup shielded the corporate from being sued beneath state legislation for failing to warn customers of the product’s dangers. A number of different appeals courts had beforehand reached the identical conclusion in related lawsuits.
If the eleventh Circuit had damaged with these different courts, it might have made it extra seemingly for the U.S. Supreme Court docket to take up the difficulty. Bayer has mentioned that it hopes a positive Supreme Court docket ruling might restrict its legal responsibility from the Roundup-related litigation, however the court docket has to this point rebuffed its appeals.
David Carson, the plaintiff, mentioned in his lawsuit he was identified with a sort of most cancers known as malignant fibrous histiocytoma in 2016 after utilizing Roundup for 30 years.
Roundup-related lawsuits have dogged Bayer because it acquired the model as a part of its $63 billion buy of Monsanto (NYSE:) in 2018. The corporate settled most Roundup claims that have been pending towards it in 2020 for as much as $10.9 billion, however nonetheless faces greater than 50,000 claims over the product.
Most plaintiffs allege that Roundup brought on a sort of most cancers known as non-Hodgkins lymphoma, although some say it brought on different cancers. Bayer maintains that Roundup is secure and doesn’t trigger most cancers.
“We’re gratified the court docket rejected Monsanto’s protection and upheld the validity of Dr. Carson’s claims,” David Frederick, Carson’s lawyer, mentioned in an e-mail. “The hurt Monsanto brought on with Roundup is immeasurable.”
Bayer has gained 10 of the final 16 trials over Roundup. Nevertheless it has been hit within the instances it misplaced with greater than $4 billion in jury verdicts since final October. A few of these awards are more likely to be diminished on enchantment as a result of they exceed U.S. Supreme Court docket steerage.
