Roundup Settlement Update: Litigation Paused Until Nov. 2

Roundup Settlement Update: Litigation Paused Until Nov. 2

Introduction

Judge Vince Chhabria, overseeing the Roundup multidistrict litigation docket, in a case management conference held via zoom, indicated that he would retain the stay on the controversial weedkiller's litigation until November 2 and asked the parties to provide an update on the proposed more than $10 billion deal.

The September 24th conference was the result of the concerns raised by plaintiffs' attorneys over the settlement deal, announced this year in June, which plaintiffs believed the manufacturer was trying to revoke its proposal.

In the recent hearing, Judge Chhabria also noted that after the set date of the stay, he could remand cases for trials, likely in California, Nebraska, North Carolina, or Illinois. Kenneth Feinberg, who is mediating the settlement deal, stated that he expects that the manufacturer will soon settle the next set of cases scheduled for trial.

The attorneys involved in the litigation stated that the parties have binding deals to settle about 45,000 of the 125,000 filed and unfiled claims and agreements have been made with each lawyer who took cases to trial.

A week ago, three major law firms, California-based Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman law firm, the Andrus Wagstaff firm from Colorado, and the Moore Law Group of Kentucky, representing several plaintiffs involved in the Roundup litigation, indicated that they reached an agreement with the manufacturer and filed a “fully-executed and binding Master Settlement Agreement with Monsanto” in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Earlier this month, Bayer had also released a statement indicating that progress has been made in the development of a “revised” plan to resolve potential future Roundup litigation, which will be finalized over the coming weeks and will be followed by a motion for preliminary approval of the plan.