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A US jury on Wednesday awarded $80 million to a man who claimed his use of Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup caused his cancer, in the latest legal setback for the company, which is facing thousands of similar lawsuits.
The jury in San Francisco federal court said the company was liable for plaintiff Edwin Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
It awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and $75 million in punitive damages to Hardeman after finding that Roundup was defectively designed, that Monsanto failed to warn of the herbicide’s cancer risk and that the company acted negligently.
Bayer bought Roundup-maker Monsanto last year for $63 billion.
The company, in a statement on Wednesday, said it was disappointed with the jury’s decision and that it would appeal the verdict.
Bayer statement
“This verdict does not change the weight of over four decades of extensive science and the conclusions of regulators worldwide that support the safety of our glyphosate-based herbicides and that they are not carcinogenic,” Bayer said.
The company added that the verdict in Hardeman’s case had no impact on future cases and trials, “as each one has its own factual and legal circumstances.”
The trial is only the second of more than 11,200 Roundup lawsuits set to go to trial in the US. Previous litigation setbacks and a prior jury verdict against the company have sent Bayer shares plunging.
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