Judge Skeptical Over Roundup Settlement Deal

Judge Skeptical Over Roundup Settlement Deal

Introduction

Last week, U.S District Judge Vince Chhabria, presiding over all Roundup lawsuits, indicated that he is doubtful about the agreement that affirms a settlement of more than $10 billion to resolve thousands of claims alleging that the weedkiller causes cancer.

The concern is only with one part of the deal, which includes a plan for handling future claims brought by the users who develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer, and regarding its approval, the judge in a filing said that he "is skeptical of the propriety and fairness of the proposed settlement, and is tentatively inclined to deny the motion.” He also asked questions about the formation of a scientific panel to determine whether the key ingredient, glyphosate, causes cancer and whether the agreement unfairly limits potential plaintiffs from suing.

The agreement was announced last month, which indicated that the deal would include a payment of $8.8 billion to $9.6 billion to resolve 75% of the current lawsuits and a fund of $1.25 billion to address future claims against the manufacturer would be set.

Following the indication of skepticism, the group of plaintiffs who had initially filed a motion for preliminary approval of the class settlement meant to address future Roundup claims has withdrawn the motion.

Bayer, in response to the judge's filing, said that it would address the concerns raised at the preliminary approval hearing, scheduled for next week.

Until now 17 countries have put a restriction on the usage of Roundup. In July, Los Angeles County stated that they would stop the use of glyphosate-based herbicides in their property due to the fear of the development of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. 

Roundup herbicide was once considered the best gift for agricultural fields. It ruled the market right from the mid-70s until 2013 when some shocking hidden facts were unveiled about this product. 
In March 2013 an email sent by a senior toxicologist from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to her colleague mentioned the carcinogenic attributes of Roundup herbicide, which were not disclosed to the public due to Monsanto’s strong control over EPA. 

Bayer is eagerly waiting to sort out its troubles related to Roundup, especially after losing their last three multimillion-dollar verdicts. The herbicide manufacturer has insisted that any settlement should largely resolve the issue of future litigation.

The jury panel would currently check whether glyphosate used in Bayer’s herbicide leads to cancer and if yes, what amount of exposure could be considered dangerous. Till date, at least 30,000 people have reached lawyers with the claim that the product had caused cancer. However, the claimants have not yet agreed to settle.

Currently, Bayer is facing more than 125,000 Roundup lawsuits, and the company has acknowledged the filing of 52,500 lawsuits. The lawsuits are consolidated under MDL No. 2741 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.