RoundUp Tort

In a year where Americans revealed they have serious doubts about the safety of self-driving cars — a study conducted shortly after the first Uber self-driving car crash fatality revealed that 73 percent of Americans would be afraid to ride in autonomous vehicles — it is clear that the self-driving sector has work to do concerning the public trust. As such, it…

According to an analysis conducted by Beyond Pesticides and the Environmental Working Group (EWG), local governments may be prevented from banning glyphosate if a a provision in a 748-page farm bill is passed into law. According to the EWG analysis, more than 50 city and county ordinances banning glyphosate could be overturned, which may lead to a renewed glyphosate presence…

California groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson was the first plaintiff to have a jury verdict rendered in lawsuits against Monsanto involving glyphosate. Mr. Johnson was one of thousands who alleged that the company's glyphosate herbicide caused their cancer, and the jury found for Mr. Johnson in a case that garnered significant national attention. The attention was of such a magnitude that Bayer's…

In past blog posts, we have extensively covered the ongoing saga surrounding the what are now thousands of lawsuits arguing that glyphosate causes cancer. Regular readers will recall that plaintiffs are relying on a 2015 World Health Report finding that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen. Monsanto and Bayer, alternatively, rely on studies such as the EPA's claim that glyphosate is likely not…

After a nearly $300 million verdict was awarded to a California groundskeeper who argued his terminal non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer was caused by glyphosate, the potentially carcinogenic nature of herbicides has received a renewed spotlight. As national conversations continue over glyphosate, the thousands of lawsuits against Bayer AG Monsanto will continue to unfold. Many of these lawsuits will rely on findings…

Thousands of glyphosate lawsuits have been filed in the aftermath of the landmark $289 million verdict delivered by a San Francisco jury in August of 2018. This surge in litigation came after the first Roundup cancer lawsuit at trial ended with the jury finding that Roundup's glyphosate caused the eventual diagnosis of a school groundskeeper's terminal non-Hodgkin lymphoma. While much of…

In June of 2018, Bayer AG closed on its acquisition of agri-chemical giant Monsanto. Some news outlets reported a $63 billion acquisition, whereas others reported even higher acquisition costs after closing (Bloomberg reported $66 billion). Naturally, Bayer eyed significant profits from the acquisition, even if intended to bolster public relations by doing away with the Monsanto name. If Bayer aimed…

In response to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2015 that deemed glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic", the state of California quickly responded by issuing a notice of intent to place glyphosate on its Proposition 65 list. This list, for reference, is a list of chemicals that are "known" to cause cancer…

The legal landscape for Bayer has changed markedly in 2018, particularly since it has effectively inherited Monsanto's legal issues since acquiring the company in 2018. In particular, Bayer inherited what is now approximately 8,000 lawsuits arguing that Roundup causes cancer because it contains the glyphosate herbicide. This herbicide was deemed a likely carcinogen by the World Health Organization in 2015, and…

After the landmark $289 million verdict by a San Francisco jury that awarded significant damages to a California groundskeeper arguing his cancer was caused by long-term use of Roundup weedkiller, much of the public health attention concerning glyphosate has been focused on the herbicide's presence in Roundup. And, indeed, the overwhelming majority of lawsuits arguing that glyphosate causes cancer do involve…