The $11 billion settlement Bayer announced to resolve tens of thousands of cancer claims isn’t the only action the owner of Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer is taking to end a class action lawsuit.
On Jan. 21, Law360.com reported that a California federal judge was being asked by a proposed class of Roundup consumers to approve a $45 million settlement to resolve their financial loss claims owing to the fact that the herbicide causes cancer.
According to a law firm that has litigated Roundup claims, Bayer agreed to settle the proposed class action for $23 million to $45 million. Consumers in the class alleged that they paid too much for Roundup because they were not informed of the risks of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma with use of the controversial herbicide.
The settlement fund will end up paying each member of the class roughly 20% of what they paid for each Roundup product they purchased, and does not cover purchases for agricultural or professional landscaping uses. Only individual consumers such as recreational gardeners are covered in the settlement. However, the settlement funds will not be allocated to medical monitoring or personal injury claims, Law360.com reported.
The consumers claimed in their proposed class that had they known about the risks of purchasing Roundup, they either would not have purchased it in the first place or would have only purchased it at a lower price.
Exactly how many consumers were included in the proposed class is unknown. But considering that millions of consumers have purchased Roundup, the proposed class motion says that the sheer number of consumers satisfies the prerequisite for a class action settlement.
Consumers involved in the class do not have to show proof of purchase or receipts to receive compensation. The upper limit of compensation per product purchased is approximately $33.
More Roundup Litigation Updates
After losing the first three consumer Roundup cancer trials, each one awarding plaintiffs tens of millions, Bayer announced in June 2020 that it would resolve tens of thousands of Roundup cancer claims for $11 billion.
After trials around the nation were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic, Bayer, in October 2021, won at trial for the first time in a Roundup cancer trial, involving the case of a young boy who developed a rare form of cancer.
In December, Bayer won another Roundup trial after a jury concluded that Bayer was not responsible for plaintiff Donnetta Stephen’s cancer.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in May 2021, upheld a $25 million award to Edwin Hardeman, the first plaintiff to successfully sue Monsanto in federal court. Bayer has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
Nearly 4,000 Roundup lawsuits are still pending in California, and approximately 30,000 Roundup claims remain unresolved in state courts throughout the U.S.
