Groundskeeper Accepts Reduced Monsanto Verdict

Introduction

On Wednesday a Northern California groundskeeper agreed to accept a judge's reduced verdict of $78 million against Monsanto after a jury found the company's weed killer caused his cancer.

A jury unanimously decided in August 2018 that glyphosate exposure from Roundup caused the 46-year-old's non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). The plaintiff's doctor testified that he would live for less than three years. A San Francisco jury awarded the plaintiff $289 million in damages to be paid by Monsanto. However, Judge Suzanne Bolanos found the $250 million punitive damages awarded to the plaintiff was too high and reduced it to $39.5 million in an order issued last month, making the total amount to be $78 million. The plaintiff was given time till December 7 to accept the reduced award. The plaintiff's spokeswoman said his attorney was not satisfied with the judge's settlement reduction but accepted the amount hoping for "a final resolution within his lifetime."

The plaintiff was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 when he used Monsanto's Roundup and Ranger Prov herbicides at a San Francisco Bay Area school. About 5,200 people have filed lawsuits against Monsanto for concealing its health hazards from consumers. 470 federal cases have been consolidated into multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of California presided by Judge Vince Chhabria.

All the roundup lawsuits are consolidated before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California under MDL No. 2741: Roundup Products Liability Litigation. 3,500 plaintiffs will represent nearly 2,200 cases that are filed in state and federal courts.

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