A California trial between an elderly cancer victim and Monsanto owner Bayer AG switched to virtual proceedings in late August due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19. 

Technical Difficulties for the Virtual Trial

On the first day, thanks to various technical problems, lawyers for plaintiff Donnetta Stephens only presented abbreviated testimony from Charles Benbrook. Benbrook is a former research professor who was once the executive director of the National Academy of Sciences agriculture board. As a key witness, he testified about topics including the history of scientific submissions to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by Monsanto as well as failed regulatory shortcomings.

Unfortunately, the proceedings for Stephens indicated that both sides may be significantly challenged in trying to share evidence and testimony in a virtual format. Some issues faced during this first session include: a court reporter who couldn’t fully hear the exchanges between lawyer and witness; jurors who had trouble using their computer cameras (a requirement); and poor audio transmission for Judge Gilbert Ochoa. Despite the technical difficulties, the judge noted that they made history by holding the court’s “first Zoom trial.”

The History of Bayer Roundup Trials

The case is being tried in the Superior Court of San Bernardino County in California. It is the fourth Roundup cancer trial to take place in the United States — the first since 2019. For the three previous trials, juries ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. They agreed that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based weed killers, including Roundup, cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma and that Monsanto spent years hiding the risks and failing to warn consumers. 

Tens of thousands of plaintiffs filed lawsuits against Monsanto after the World Health Organization’s cancer experts determined that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen with a link to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. 

For more information about lawsuits related to Roundup, contact us today.

Bayer AG’s Roundup faces another setback as it loses a third consecutive appeal of a jury finding that its weed killer causes cancer. The company has averaged nearly $50 million in damages for each consumer.

An appeals court in San Francisco refused to overturn the 2019 verdict that awarded more than $2 billion to a couple who claimed they fell ill after more than three decades of using the herbicide. The verdict was the eighth-largest product-defect award in U.S. history. The appeals court agreed with the trial judge’s decision to reduce the amount to $86.7 million.

Bayer’s Response to Roundup Cancer Verdicts

Bayer recently set aside an additional $4.5 billion to address thousands of Roundup lawsuits, which means its total reserves for the cases is over $16 billion. Additionally, the company’s Monsanto unit will remove the current version of Roundup from the market in 2023. 

In 2018, the company inherited the legal issues related to Roundup when it purchased Monsanto for $63 billion. Monsanto began manufacturing Roundup in the 1970s.

“We respectfully disagree with the court’s ruling as the verdict is not supported by the evidence at trial or the law,” Bayer said via an email statement. “Monsanto will consider its legal options in this case.”

Bayer plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to look at another case the company lost in 2019, hoping that it will determine that the company should be absolved of any wrongdoing because federal regulators determined that glyphosate isn’t a carcinogen. 

What’s Next for Bayer

A fourth trial began last week in San Bernardino, California’s state court. 70-year-old Donnetta Stephens allegedly developed non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma after using Roundup for more than 30 years. Before the trial began, the manufacturing company’s lawyers persuaded the judge to throw out claims that the company hid Roundup’s health risks, which may make it easier for Bayer to win the case. 

For more information about lawsuits related to Roundup, contact us today.