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Roundup litigation at turning point as Bayer rejects "global resolution plan"
Plaintiffs' lawyers ready to go back to war; Bayer says bring it on
Fresh off a fifth-in-a-row trial victory, Monsanto owner Bayer AG is rejecting a proposed โglobal resolution planโ put forward by plaintiffsโ lawyers as a last chance to try to settle tens of thousands of pending Roundup cancer claims before a wave of new trials get underway, newly filed court documents show.
The company stance comes at a pivotal point in the ongoing nationwide litigation involving plaintiffs who allege they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) from exposure to Monsantoโs glyphosate-based weed killers, such as Roundup.
The group of law firms leading the cases in what is called โmultidistrict litigation (MDL)โ asked US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria to approve a plan that would set a 60-day window in which both sides would try to forge a final global settlement that would cover the claims of roughly 30,000 plaintiffs.
If no settlement can be reached, the plaintiffsโ firms want the judge to start the process of dissolving the MDL and clearing waves of cases to go to trial in the states where they originated.
The plaintiffsโ law firms say the current court-approved settlement process, which has been ongoing for two years, is too slow and ties plaintiffs into a mediation process that provides only low-ball settlement offers to plaintiffs while delaying trials.
โThe offers made within the settlement program appear to be woefully inadequate. Thus, a substantial number of MDL cases remain unresolved by the settlement program, and it is highly unlikely that these cases will be settled absent global resolution or an imminent trial setting,โ the plaintiffsโ firms said in a Sept. 1 court filing.
In opposing the proposal, Monsanto lawyers said the current MDL structure should be maintained and the mediation process kept in place. The company lawyers argued that disbanding the MDL and sending โthousands of current and future cases to district courts throughout this countryโ would โbring chaos to bear.โ
The company lawyers said that the majority of cases to date have been resolved and keeping the MDL intact will allow resolutions to continue, โwhich benefits the litigants and the federal court system.โ
โMonsanto does not wish to engage in Plaintiffsโ proposed global resolution plan and the proposed 60-day stay is unnecessaryโฆโ the company lawyers stated in the joint court filing. โMonsanto intends on defending itself in the litigation and will only consider resolving outstanding current cases and claims if it is strategically advantageous to do so.โ
A case management hearing is scheduled in Chhabriaโs court for Sept. 7.
Monsanto racks up wins
While plaintiffs firms won the first three trials in the Roundup litigation, Monsanto has won the last five. The most recent trial ended Thursday with a fast jury verdict that sided with the company.
Since buying Monsanto in 2018, Bayer has steadfastly insisted that there is no cancer connection to Monsantoโs herbicides. The company says that scientific research and regulatory findings, including from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), back its assertions of safety. The company says it has only agreed to settlements in order to mitigate the expense of the litigation.
Conversely, the plaintiffsโ law firms leading the MDL say they have been largely sitting on the sidelines for two years attempting to wrap up settlements after Bayer announced in 2020 that it was earmarking roughly $11 billion for Roundup settlements.
Now, the law firms that won the first three trials for plaintiffs are preparing for a series of new trials. Those firms were not involved in the five trials Monsanto has won. ย
The plaintiffsโ attorneys say they are armed with new evidence that undermines Monsantoโs defense, including a recent federal court ruling that threw out the EPAโs determination of glyphosate safety. ย
In June, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court Appealsย ruled that the EPAย did not properly follow scientific guidelines when it determined glyphosate was not carcinogenic. The court found that EPA officials discounted several important studies and that โmost studies EPA examined indicated that human exposure to glyphosate is associated with an at least somewhat increased risk of developing NHL.โ
The โcenterpiece of Monsantoโs defense, i.e., the EPAโs imprimatur of safety, has been invalidated,โ the plaintiffsโ attorneys stated in the court filing.
Further, the company โrefuses to change its warning label and it refuses to make meaningful settlement offers to the remaining plaintiffs,โ the plaintiffsโ attorney said in the filing. โThus, in the face of this recalcitrance, Plaintiffsโ Leadership has ramped up litigation and, here, propose a new plan for wrapping up this MDL proceeding.โ
Monsanto lawyers said in the filing that โit is inaccurate to suggest that EPAโs imprimatur of safety has been invalidated,โ and said the EPAโs conclusions โregarding the safety of glyphosate Roundup have never wavered.โ
Moreover, โMonsantoโs defense extends far beyond the EPAโs position on glyphosate,โ the companyโs lawyers wrote. (Read the rest of the story at The New Lede.)
Roundup litigation at turning point as Bayer rejects "global resolution plan"
https://www.archive.org/details/piety-piet-close-up-or-closeted-up --- 832 pages
on glyphosate between pages 267 to 593
most of it in dutch, then english and german [separated by background colour, chronological]
I wonder what Bayer is "waiting" for? I mean, the smart money would be to payout, do a global settlement, mea culpa. Move on. As more time goes on, more evidence comes out, as more people are telling others not to use the vile, pernicious stuff. The suits will only get more fast and furious until the tide turns and then a tsunami of litigation, etc. Its pretty linear at this point.
No one will buy Monsanto so they cant on sell. The biggest product is a catastrophic global poison, quite likely to have already diffused into the water table, atmosphere and soils, so no company will touch it. Its only a matter of time before its public knowledge. Not if, when.
So what does Bayer know that we don't? I feel like they are just biding time, until something happens that they then win by default.
Like are they waiting for economic collapse to declare bankruptcy?
I do know that with certain experimental technologies utilised in public health over the last couple of years is going to muddy the waters when it comes to proving cancers, particularly lymphoma's....๐ค๐คจ๐๐