Roundup Cancer Lawsuit News

Monsanto Ordered to Pay $2 Billion For A Couple's Roundup Cancer

The jury award is the third in three trials accusing Roundup herbicide of causing cancer

Tuesday, May 14, 2019 - If ever a jury was enraged and angered by a defendant's bad acts it was never demonstrated more emphatically than it was today in an Oakland, California courtroom. Multinational conglomerate Bayer Inc., the parent company of Monsanto, maker of Roundup herbicide, was ordered to pay $2 billion to a California couple that each alleged that their lifelong use of Roundup herbicide caused their cancer. According to the San Francisco Chronicle online the couple said that they had used Roundup herbicide for about nine years and had sprayed around 1500 gallons of the weedkiller on or around their properties several times per week. The couple's monetary compensation amounted to $55 million with the remainder as punitive damages. National Monsanto cancer attorneys offer families and individuals free advice before filing a Monsanto cancer lawsuit claim.

The verdict is the third and largest to date against Monsanto. California school groundskeeper DeWayne Lee Johnson was awarded $289 million, later reduced to $78 million for his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma caused by regularly coming into direct skin contact with Roundup over the years. The jury in the second trial against Monsanto came to a similar conclusion and awarded Edwin Hardeman $80 million for his Roundup cancer. There are over 11,000 similar cases waiting their turn to hold Bayer and Monsanto accountable for their negligence for failing to warn consumers.

There were several factors making Pilliod's case slightly different than the previous two. The plaintiff's attorneys highlighted the fact that when glyphosate is combined with other chemicals including surfactants into the unique herbicidal mixture sold under the brand name Roundup, is extremely lethal. The defense argued that it was not possible to hold Roundup solely responsible for the couple's cancer as each had been a life-long smoker and they both had a long history of living with an immune system compromised by previous cancer treatments. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decided to issue an official statement once both sides had finished presenting their cases and before going to the jury saying that they believed that glyphosate was not carcinogenic. According to Reuters, "The contrast between today's verdict and (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's) conclusion that there are 'no risks to public health from the currently registered uses of glyphosate' could not be starker," Bayer said. The point the defense seems to be missing, however, is that it is the chemical cocktail called Roundup herbicide, not glyphosate alone, that is accused of "substantially contributing" to the couple's cancer, and that such occupational use of the chemical should have been met with a product safety warning. Instead of warning the public, Monsanto chose to spend their money hiring ghostwriters to spin and twist the results of any scientific study that found Roundup to be dangerous to human health.

The couple, one a former Catholic nun and the other a retired army intelligence officer alleged that they trusted Monsanto when the company said that the product was safe and failed to warn them to take precautions such as wearing waterproof protective gear while applying the chemical. Mrs. Pilliod was quoted as saying that if she was aware that the chemical may not have been safe, she would not have used it.

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Lawyers for Roundup Cancer Lawsuits

Attorneys handling Roundup cancer lawsuits for leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple myeloma offer free, no-obligation case review for individuals and families who believe they may have grounds to file a Roundup cancer lawsuit. Working on a contingency basis, these attorneys are committed to never charging legal fees unless they win compensation in your Roundup cancer lawsuit. The product liability litigators handling Roundup claims at the Onder Law Firm have a strong track record of success in representing families harmed by dangerous drugs and consumer products.