A state appeals court upheld a verdict against Bayer AG in a lawsuit brought by a former school groundskeeper who claimed the company's Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer but cut the man's award by more than 74% to $20.5 million.
A California state appeals court Monday affirmed the 2018 verdict in favor of a landscaper who ultimately was awarded $78.5 million in damages before it was reduced to more than $20 million. The lawsuit isn't covered by Bayer's broader settlement resolving 95,000 of approximately 125,000 U.S. lawsuits by Roundup users claiming the herbicide caused their cancers.
The ruling may embolden Roundup settlement holdouts to demand bigger payouts, and it may also spur more lawsuits by users of the herbicide who haven't gotten sick yet, said Anna Pavlik, special situations senior counsel at United First Partners in New York.
"This risk is precisely what likely drove Bayer to settle some of the current cases before the appeal decision was announced," she said.
But today's decision isn't the last word. Bayer can still appeal to the state supreme court. The company also may have better luck pressing similar arguments before a federal appeals court over its second jury loss.
Carolyn Nagle and Dan Childs, Bayer spokespeople, didn't immediately return an email seeking comment on the appeal court's ruling.
