Bayer Faces Additional Litigation Strife

December 1, 2020 — Not only does Bayer face consequences from Monsanto’s Roundup, but the company is also suffering from Monsanto’s liability in polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) pollution cases and cases where crop damage was a result of Monsanto’s dicamba herbicide-based crop system.

Within the past week, Bayer proposed a payment of $648 million to settle litigation where plaintiffs alleged contamination from Monsanto’s PCBs.  A federal judge in Los Angeles rejected the proposal. The trial judge in the case Bader Farms, Inc. v. Monsanto also rejected Bayer’s requests for a new trial around the same time. The judge did cut the punitive damages awarded by the jury from $250 million to $60 million in favor of Bayer, leaving compensatory damages of $15 million for a total award of $75 million.

Monsanto was exposed for knowing about the damaging effects of its system for years by documents obtained through discovery.

Reference:  “Monsanto Roundup & Dicamba Trial Tracker.” U.S. Right to Know, 2 June 2020, https://usrtk.org/monsanto-roundup-trial-tracker-index/