The following report is by Agriculture Dive:
The ruling from the Cole County Circuit Court in Missouri slashes damages owed to $611 million total. A jury in November awarded four plaintiffs $1.5 billion in punitive damages and $61.2 million in compensatory damages.
The Supreme Court generally limits punitive damages to nine times the compensatory award. Bayer plans on appealing the verdict and maintains that glyphosate – the main ingredient in Roundup – is safe for use.
Bayer is ramping up its legal defenses to beat back a tidal wave of Roundup lawsuits that have weighed heavily on company earnings.
The agrichemical giant has added a litigation expert to its supervisory board and brought in new external counsel, CEO Bill Anderson said on an earnings call last month. In addition to appealing “every unfavorable verdict,” Bayer is engaging with policymakers to find other pathways to resolving the lawsuits.
“It’s clear that a strategy of defense alone is not enough,” Anderson told investors March 5. “We’re looking at the litigation topic from every angle, inside and outside the courtroom.”
The $1.5 billion verdict in Missouri was one of the largest awards in over five years of litigation surrounding the herbicide. In February, a California court reduced a $325 million verdict against Bayer by more than 90%.
Bayer has seen approximately 167,000 claims stemming from Roundup, with plaintiffs claiming that they developed cancers such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after using the product on their lawns or gardens. Although the majority of those cases have either been resolved or deemed ineligible, mounting litigation costs have become “a huge burden” on company financials, according to Anderson.
The company is hoping to put an end to the long-running litigation by seeking a review from the Supreme Court. It’s also pursuing legislative solutions — Iowa senators last week approved a proposal that would partially shield Bayer and other herbicide companies from future lawsuits.
“This is a top priority,” Anderson said in regards to containing litigation costs. “It’s not somewhere off to the side, but it’s front and center for us.”
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it.
Proverbs 29:4
What else is new, these corrupt corporations and monopolies are constantly side-skirting punishment and judgment; as they continue to put smaller businesses and family out of work, continue to consolidate and subsidize the food and agricultural space, continue to poison and make people sick. And it’s not even like $1.5 billion for Bayer is that much: that’s chump change to them, and now they’ll be paying even less; while at the same time they and other firms lobby the government to continuously renege on the laws and create new loopholes to continue their destructive practices.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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