US judge slashes $2bn verdict against Bayer in Roundup case
A California judge on Thursday slashed a $2bn jury verdict against Bayer to $86.7m in the case of a couple who claimed the company's weed killer Roundup caused their cancer.
The judge from the California Superior Court in Oakland said the jury’s billion-dollar punitive damages awards were excessive and unconstitutional but did not believe in cancelling them altogether.
The jury case ruled in favour of California couple who argued Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a blood-cell cancer. The new ruling means they will receive roughly $17m in compensatory and $69m in punitive damages.
In a statement Bayer said: “We continue to believe that the verdict and damage awards are not supported by the evidence at trial and conflict with the extensive body of reliable science and conclusions of leading health regulators worldwide that confirms glyphosate-based herbicides can be used safely and that glyphosate is not carcinogenic.”
Bayer still faces Roundup cancer lawsuits by more than 13,400 plaintiffs across the US. To date it has lost three US jury trials in the Roundup litigation, with juries in California awarding multi-million dollar awards.