The US Supreme Court let stand an $87 million award against Bayer AG, rejecting the company for the second time in a week as it tries to fend off tens of thousands of claims that its top-selling Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.
The justices, making no comment, on [June 27] left in place a jury’s finding in favor of Alva and Alberta Pilliod in a California case. Bayer argued that a federal law precluded the suit and that the $70 million punitive damages award was so large it violated the Constitution.
The court last week rejected Bayer’s appeal in a case the company was trying to use to scuttle billions of dollars in potential claims. The company’s liability could be the full $16 billion it has set aside to resolve the litigation, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Holly Froum.
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Bayer said in a statement it “respectfully disagrees” with the ruling, but wasn’t surprised. The company also predicted “there are likely to be future cases, including Roundup cases, that present the US Supreme Court with preemption questions” like the Pilliod case “and could also create a Circuit split and potentially change the legal environment.”
