Bayer will not appeal a $20.5 million Roundup verdict—the first Roundup verdict in the nation—to the U.S. Supreme Court, the company announced [March 19].
The decision will end the litigation brought by Dewayne Johnson against Bayer’s Monsanto over claims its Roundup pesticide caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A California jury awarded Johnson a $289 million verdict in 2018, reduced to $20.5 million on appeal.
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Bayer said the case is not the best fit for Supreme Court review because the underlying opinion was issued by an intermediate-level state court, California’s First District Court of Appeal, and the portion dealing with whether federal law preempts the state’s duty-to-warn theory is unpublished, and “thus will have no bearing on any case besides Johnson[‘s].”
In October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard arguments on whether to reverse an $80 million Roundup verdict based on federal preemption in a case brought by Edwin Hardeman.
Related on the SLP
Supreme Court agrees to review Bayer’s request to block lawsuits claiming federally-approved herbicide glyphosate causes cancer
Bayer on SCOTUS: It should not face liablity in state courts for alleged health damages caused by its weedkiller Roundup (glyphosate) when independent federal agencies have reviewed thousands of studies and labeled it safe
In contrast, the company said, “the Hardeman case, regardless of its outcome in the U.S. Court of Appeals, is a better candidate for Supreme Court review because the intermediate federal court is expected to publish a decision addressing the most significant federal questions at issue in the Roundup litigation, including preemption and the admissibility of expert evidence.”
