March 24 (UPI) -- A state jury in Georgia directed Bayer, the parent company of Monsanto, to pay more than $2.1 billion in damages to a man who claimed its weed killer Roundup caused his cancer.
On Friday in Cobb County, a suburb of Atlanta, jurors awarded $65 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages to John Barnes. The trial lasted three weeks in Marietta.
Barnes was represented by law firms Arnold & Itkin LLP and Kline & Specter PC. Their largest award in a Monsanto case was $2.25 billion for a man in Philadelphia in January 2024 that a judge reduced to $400 million.
So far about 170,000 Roundup claims have been filed, according to Sokolove Law, which has represents plaintiffs. There have been 23 Roundup trials in court so far, with more than $6 billion awarded to victims and the settling of around 100,000 claims for approximately $11 billion.
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In 2020, Barnes, who says he used the company's weedkiller in his yard for several years, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He claims glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, caused his cancer and Monsanto didn't warn him of the product's dangers.
"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 said in a statement. "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.
Germany-based Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018 for $63 billion. Three years later the company said it would set $16 billion to settle cases and later added billions to that.
Since the lawsuits, Bayer said it replaced glyphosate-based products in the U.S. residential market with new formulations using alternative ingredients. Also the company said it would explore changes to Roundup labeling.
"We continue to stand fully behind the safety of Roundup products -- critical tools that farmers rely on to produce affordable food and feed the world," the company said in a statement Friday.
The agrochemical company said it is considering its appeal options, noting it has secured favorable outcomes in 17 of the last 25 trials.
"The company is currently evaluating the cases which would present the best opportunity for review and will file a petition for certiorari in 2025, and if granted, the Supreme Court would decide the case during its 2025-2026 session," according to the news release.
In 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said there as "insufficient evidence to conclude that glyphosate plays a role in any human diseases." The EPA has been studying glyphosate since 2009.
In 2017, company emails in federal court in San Francisco, showed Monsanto executives discussed ghostwriting research papers on Roundup. Two papers on Roundup were eventually published, one in 2000 and one in 2013.
