November was a huge month for plaintiffs claiming the Bayer weedkiller Roundup caused their cancer, with juries awarding billions in their favor. Losses for Bayer are becoming a pattern–the November verdict marks the fourth straight loss for the company. A California jury awarded $332 million to one plaintiff, and a Missouri judge ordered Bayer to pay $1.56 billion to four plaintiffs.
I’ll tell you more about these cases below, as well as how an attorney can help if you’ve been harmed by this toxic product.
$332 Million Roundup Cancer Verdict
The last day of October began with bad news for the Monsanto division of Bayer. The plaintiff, Mike Dennis, a 57-year-old man from Carlsbad, California, was diagnosed with a rare and incurable form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after using Roundup for decades. Dennis’s lawsuit claimed that he had fallen ill due to exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, which has been implicated in cancer cases for decades. Although Dennis is currently in remission, there is a high likelihood that his cancer will return.
After reviewing the evidence, a California jury determined that the company did not properly warn consumers of the risks of using their product. While the jury did not go so far as to claim that the company was negligent, they did award the plaintiff $7 million in compensatory damages and $325 million in punitive damages. For context, compensatory damages cover things like medical bills, lost time from work, and other illness-related expenses. Punitive damages are reserved for cases where a jury believes a company’s behavior warrants punishment.
Bayer plans to appeal the verdict.
$1.5 Billion Roundup Cancer Verdict
On November 17, Bayer was dealt another blow when a Missouri jury again ruled in favor of four plaintiffs who said their Roundup weedkiller use resulted in cancer or other injuries. Three Roundup plaintiffs, all of whom had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, were awarded a total of $61.1 million in compensatory damages as well as $500 million each in punitive damages. In addition, one plaintiff’s wife was awarded $100,000 for suffering she experienced due to her husband’s illness.
The jury found Bayer liable for defects in product design, negligence, and failing to properly warn consumers of the dangers of using the product.
Bayer also plans to appeal this decision.
Do You Have a Roundup Cancer Case?
Over 165,000 Roundup lawsuits have been filed against Bayer/Monsanto, and plaintiffs continue to receive compensation for their injuries. If you have been diagnosed with cancer after using Roundup, it is not too late to file a case. While a Roundup lawsuit may sound daunting, especially in the face of a cancer diagnosis, we must hold negligent corporations responsible for their careless and ultimately lethal behavior.
While there are multiple ways to file a Roundup cancer lawsuit, many cases are set up as mass torts. In a mass tort, multiple similar cases (where a product has caused similar injuries among several plaintiffs) are heard at once in a single court of law; while this may sound a lot like a class action suit, awards are significantly higher. Mass torts also have the potential to be settled more expediently than individual cases and have the potential to be more successful than individual lawsuits.
In this type of case, each client retains their own lawyer, but lawyers can share evidence and construct arguments collaboratively. These types of cases can be successful due to the depth of evidence and strength in the sheer number of plaintiffs who have sustained similar harms. From a settlement perspective, awards in mass torts are tiered–in other words, the more severe your injuries are, the higher the tier of your award will be.
Over the years, Buttafuoco & Associates has fought hard for clients in mass tort cases. If you have received a cancer diagnosis after using Roundup and want to know more about how to proceed, please reach out for a free consultation. Our team will listen to the details of your case, tell you more about your rights, and provide you with a sense of how best to move forward with Roundup litigation.
Get in touch today at 1-800-NOW-HURT.
