Jury Slams Bayer With Nearly $2.1B Verdict Over Glyphosate Cancer Claims

A Georgia jury has ruled against Bayer in which a plaintiff claimed his use of Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The nearly $2.1 billion verdict is the largest payout the biotechnology company has paid out, as 60,000 lawsuits are still pending. The verdict includes $65 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages.

The attorneys for John Barnes, the plaintiff, issued a statement following the ruling. It said, “Monsanto had been hiding from the fact that Roundup causes cancer for decades. Bayer has maintained that Roundup was fundamentally safe to use despite a scientific consensus that Roundup can cause cancer, specifically non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Our client, John, used Roundup at home and work, exposing him to higher levels of glyphosate than most people. Of course, John felt he had nothing to fear because Monsanto had publicly said Roundup was safe even though its internal scientists knew that it was not.”

Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018, just before the first case was brought to trial, alleging the use of glyphosate caused Dewayne Lee Johnson to get non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. In that case, Johnson was a groundskeeper for a school district. In April 2014, the hose got caught, it broke, and started to spray everywhere. Ranger Pro, a Monsanto herbicide with glyphosate as the primary active ingredient, got inside his protective gear.

A couple of months later, Johnson started to develop a rash. He reached out to Monsanto to ask if getting the chemical on his skin could be causing his condition. Johnson never heard back from the company and eventually filed the lawsuit in 2016. In 2018, the case went to trial, and Johnson was initially awarded a $289 million verdict, $250 million in punitive damages, and $39.25 million in compensatory damages.

Bayer/Monsanto appealed the decision, and the appeals court judge said the compensatory and punitive damages needed to be equal. She reduced the punitive award down to $39.25 million for a total of $78 million. Johnson passed away from cancer in January 2020 at the age of 56.

Bayer has responded to the latest ruling and said “We disagree with the jury’s verdict, as it conflicts with the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and the consensus of regulatory bodies and their scientific assessments worldwide.” The company added, “We believe that we have strong arguments on appeal to get this verdict overturned and the excessive and unconstitutional damage awards eliminated or reduced. The court previously granted the majority of the company’s motion for a directed verdict, finding that the plaintiff had failed to prove most of their causes of action in this case.”

The company has long claimed that the product is safe by citing many industry-funded studies. In a viral clip, a glyphosate advocate named Patrick Moore said it is safe to drink a whole quart of Roundup. When the interviewer prompted him to actually do so to prove the safety, he said he was not an idiot. Moore is not associated with Bayer/Monsanto. The company responded by saying glyphosate is not a beverage, but it is safe for approved uses.

Bayer claims that the trial court made an error in the latest case by not allowing the plaintiff’s ex-wife to testify that there were other herbicides in the plaintiff’s garage.

A $2.25 billion verdict happened last year in Pennsylvania for another man who developed non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma after using Roundup for residential purposes. That was later reduced to $400 million in appeals court. Bayer contends that the courts are wrong in declaring Roundup as the cause of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

The attorneys for Barnes in the latest case wrote in response to the verdict, “Our team presented John’s story to a highly educated jury that considered the evidence carefully before deciding that John should receive $250 million in compensation and then awarding $2 billion in punitive damages against Monsanto/Bayer to deter them for their bad conduct. This is the largest verdict against Monsanto or Bayer for Roundup. Our firm was proud we could help John and others hold one of the world’s largest companies accountable for deceptively poisoning Americans.”

Bayer has struggled in recent years dealing with the onslaught of litigation and has considered separating the herbicide business from the rest of Bayer. The company announced last year that it was holding off on the idea while it attempted to cut costs and tackle litigation.

Bayer has been lobbying federal and state governments in an attempt to gain immunity protections similar to the vaccine industry. The company argues that the products are approved for safety via the EPA, which should be enough to protect the company from lawsuits. 

In 2020, a court ruled that the EPA’s assessment of glyphosate’s risk to human health was flawed. The EPA currently has until 2026 to complete a thorough review.

Bayer is also defending itself in French court for claims that glyphosate exposure caused the birth defects of 17-year-old Theo Grataloup. When Grataloup was born, he had severe abnormalities of the esophagus and larynx. His mother used a glyphosate-based herbicide to clear weeds in 2006 before she knew she was pregnant.

The HighWire reported last month that Bayer is going to request a capital raise from its shareholders to cover litigation costs. The HighWire reported in October that a Friends of the Earth report found the new formulation of Roundup without glyphosate to be 45 times more toxic than the previous formulation.