Bayer on [September 18th] said it wants a California state court judge to overturn the jury’s verdict, order a new trial or reduce damages, according to a court filing. The company aims to defeat a $289 million award in August in one of the first of thousands of cases filed by gardeners, farmers and others claiming Bayer’s Roundup herbicide gave them cancer.
The jury in that case ruled unanimously in favor of a former groundskeeper who sought to hold the maker of Roundup liable for his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The verdict came only two months after the German pharmaceutical and chemical conglomerate sealed its takeover of Monsanto ….
…
In its filing on [September 18th] with the California state court, Bayer argued that the plaintiff’s lawyers relied on flimsy scientific evidence that doesn’t support a link to cancer, and that jurors were swayed by overly emotional and speculative arguments from the plaintiff’s lawyers.
Pedram Esfandiary, an attorney for Baum Hedlund Aristei and Goldman PC, which is representing the plaintiff in the case, said the jury verdict demonstrated that Monsanto’s scientific case wasn’t convincing. “I think the odds are very slim of them prevailing,” he said.
Judge Suzanne Ramos Bolanos is expected to rule on Bayer’s requests by late October or early November.
Read full, original article: Bayer Steps Up Legal Fight Over Weed Killer Blamed for Cancer
