Germany’s Bayer is now facing 42,700 U.S. plaintiffs blaming its glyphosate-based weedkillers for their cancer, more than twice the tally in July and potentially raising any future settlement.
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Bayer, the inventor of aspirin and owner of Yasmin birth control and Claritin allergy relief brands, is widely expected to eventually buy itself out of the litigation, with analysts currently estimating the size of a future settlement at $8-$12 billion.
It put the increase in claims down to a significant increase in plaintiff-side television advertising spending.
“The number of lawsuits, first and foremost, doesn’t tell us anything about their merits,” Chief Executive Werner Baumann said in a media call. “The number of the lawsuits in no way, shape or form is indicative of the amount of the settlement.”
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Bayer had earlier [in October] prepared investors for a surge in cases, saying the prospect of a settlement was fanning efforts by lawyers to recruit plaintiffs.
But Baumann toned down remarks in July that any settlement needed to bring “finality of the overall litigation” from Roundup users, saying instead that finality was an ideal scenario.
Read full, original article: Bayer says U.S. glyphosate plaintiffs more than double since July
