Roundup Lawsuit Payout of $611M Upheld by Appeals Court

The jury’s original $1.5 billion punitive damages award was previously reduced by the trial judge to $611 million, which a state court appeals court has now determined Monstanto must payout.

A Missouri appeals court has refused to throw out a $1.5 billion Roundup lawsuit verdict in favor of three individuals who developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after exposure to the herbicide, but did reduce the award to a $611 million payout for the plaintiffs.

In November 2023, a Missouri jury ruled against Bayer and its Monsanto subsidiary, determining that the manufacturers had failed to warn users about the risks associated with Roundup exposure, which has led to more than 120,000 similar Roundup lawsuits being brought in federal and state courts nationwide in recent years.

While Bayer has agreed to pay more than $10 billion in Roundup settlements to resolve individual injury lawsuits, there are still several thousand unresolved claims involving plaintiffs who rejected settlement offers, as well as new claims that continue to be filed as former users develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The Missouri Roundup lawsuit payout was awarded to Valorie Gunther of New York, Jimmy Draeger of Missouri, and Daniel Anderson of California. 

The jury awarded the three a total of $61.1 million in compensatory damages and then added another $500 million in punitive damages for each of the plaintiffs, to punish the companies and deter similar conduct in the future.

Monsanto appealed the verdict to the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District, challenging the ruling on multiple grounds, including federal preemption, and challenges to evidence and testimony presented to the jury.

In an opinion (PDF) issued on May 27, the appellate panel rejected the manufacturers’ arguments and affirmed the verdict. However, the total punitive damages payout was reduced from $1.5 billion to $549.9 million. With the compensatory damages, which went untouched, the verdict leaves Bayer and Monsanto on the hook for about $611 million in total.

Bayer Trying To Avoid Roundup Lawsuit Liability

The verdict comes after numerous, expensive court losses for Bayer and its Monsanto unit, which have led manufacturers to turn their focus toward efforts to secure protections from state legislatures or the U.S. Supreme Court, which could effectively end future Roundup lawsuits if they find that the claims are preempted by federal law.

Its efforts have already resulted in liability protections in Georgia and North Carolina, with similar measures being considered by several other states.

However, a recent report indicates Bayer is considering seeking liability protection for Monsanto through the U.S. bankruptcy process, even though the company has billions of funds on hand to deal with the litigation.

While the bankruptcy efforts are unconfirmed, last month Bayer took what many legal observers considered a “hail Mary” attempt to end the company’s liability in Roundup non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma lawsuits, by filing a Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court that argues the failure to warn claims should be barred by federal preemption, since the herbicide was approved by federal regulators.

It is the company’s third attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the litigation, with the petition coming after the Missouri Supreme Court rejected a similar Roundup appeal in February, when it upheld a $1.25 million Roundup damage award from October 2023.

To cut off the potential for future claims, Bayer also announced that it would reformulate Roundup in 2021, with plans to remove the active ingredient glyphosate from consumer versions of the weed killer. However, without additional settlements, the company is likely to continue facing new lawsuits for years, as former users develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma following use of the old Roundup formulations.