© 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 Photograph
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) -A U.S. appeals courtroom on Monday refused to dismiss a Georgia physician’s lawsuit claiming that Bayer AG (ETR:)’s Roundup weedkiller brought on most cancers, the most recent setback within the German firm’s efforts to fend off hundreds of comparable circumstances carrying probably 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 will have made it extra seemingly for the U.S. Supreme Court docket to take up the difficulty. Bayer has stated that it hopes a positive Supreme Court docket ruling may restrict its legal responsibility from the Roundup-related litigation, however the courtroom has to date rebuffed its appeals.
David Carson, the plaintiff, stated in his lawsuit he was recognized with a kind of most cancers referred to 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 kind of most cancers referred to as non-Hodgkins lymphoma, although some say it brought on different cancers. Bayer maintains that Roundup is protected and doesn’t trigger most cancers.
“We’re gratified the courtroom rejected Monsanto’s protection and upheld the validity of Dr. Carson’s claims,” David Frederick, Carson’s legal professional, stated in an e mail. “The hurt Monsanto brought on with Roundup is immeasurable.”
Bayer has gained 10 of the final 16 trials over Roundup. But it surely has been hit within the circumstances it misplaced with greater than $4 billion in jury verdicts since final October. A few of these awards are prone to be decreased on attraction as a result of they exceed U.S. Supreme Court docket steerage.