The German multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company Bayer is expecting that there will be a surge in Roundup lawsuits.
Bayer indicated that the size of the Roundup litigation grew dramatically following the company's three loses at trial over the past year. Earlier, the company indicated that there were more than 18,000 product liability lawsuits filed in courts nationwide. However, around tens of thousands of new claims have been brought in by individuals diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma allegedly caused by the weedkiller, indicating that the number can go up to more than 45,000 lawsuits nationwide.
Bayer has been hit with a multi-million dollar verdict in the three cases that went to trial in the United States. Each trial ended with a massive punitive damages award as a result of the defendants' failure to warn about the cancer risk from Roundup exposure. These losses raised awareness about Roundup and its link to non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Roundup lawsuits are consolidated under federal multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2741; In Re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation) in the Northern District of California, presided by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria.
The upcoming trial of Winston v. Monsanto in St. Louis City has been postponed by a court status conference from October 15, 2019, to February 2020. The lawsuit involves 14 plaintiffs who allege that Roundup caused them to develop Non-Hodgkin lymphoma as the manufacturers deceived them about the risk associated with the product. The case will be reevaluated in the status conference which is scheduled for February 10. Currently, Bayer faces more than 18,400 claims alleging that its product causes Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
