The largest single-plaintiff injury verdict was recently awarded by a court jury in Georgia, where Bayer was ordered to pay a staggering $2.1 billion in damages in a landmark Roundup Cancer case.
John Barnes, the plaintiff, filed a lawsuit accusing the company’s glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, for his cancer diagnosis.
The verdict includes compensatory damages for up to $65 million and punitive damages of over 2 billion.
Will Bayer Pay the Awarded Damages?
While the verdict does give some comfort to thousands of litigants with active lawsuits, going by the trend, the company will either appeal or have the damages reduced.
“We believe that we have strong arguments on appeal to get this verdict overturned and the excessive and unconstitutional damage awards eliminated or reduced,” Bayer said in a statement.
“While we have great sympathy for the plaintiff in this case, we are confident that our products can be used safely and are not carcinogenic, consistent with the assessments of expert regulators worldwide,” it added.
A $2 billion 2019 verdict, for instance, awarded to a couple in damages from Bayer-Monsanto, was appealed and reduced to $87 million.
Final Verdict
The company seems more dedicated to quickly ‘resolving’ or having the lawsuits proven ineligible, as it confidently states many of its favourable outcomes in recent litigations.
“Monsanto remains committed to trying cases,” the company has previously stated. “We continue to stand fully behind the safety of Roundup products — critical tools that farmers rely on to produce affordable food and feed the world.”
Lead Editor for Insight Weeds.