Roundup MDL Will Include National Black Farmers' Lawsuit

Roundup MDL Will Include National Black Farmers' Lawsuit

Introduction

On April 1, an order was filed by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) in which the panel rejected the Bayer AG unit's motion over reconsideration of a decision to transfer a Roundup lawsuit brought by the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) in the California multidistrict litigation docket (MDL).

According to the order, the panel rejected the company's effort stating that the lawsuit involves many of the same issues of causation, background science, and regulatory history similar to the claims already pending in the national coordinated docket.

The lawsuit was filed by the association in August 2020 in the Missouri federal court, alleging that the company's aggressive business practices forced the members of the association to use the controversial weedkiller. The association is trying to have the manufacturer stop the sales of Roundup, which contains glyphosate and is linked to causing cancer and other ailments.

A motion was granted in February by the panel, allowing the consolidation of the lawsuit in the MDL, which is formed in the Northern District of California under MDL No. 2741 and is presided by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria.

The manufacturer opposed the consolidation and requested JPML to reconsider the decision, asserting that the lawsuit is not limited to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) or other hematopoietic cancers, and hence should not be a part of the ongoing docket.

Additionally, the company also argued that the lawsuit would not fit easily within the current pretrial structure and should be placed on its own litigation track.

However, the panel in its recent decision noted that all the arguments were previously considered during the initial decision and further added that the judge has the discretion to use separate tracks or other pretrial management techniques within the MDL as an appropriate measure to address the lawsuit.