Bayer Roundup settlement at risk of collapse
August 28, 2020
German chemicals giant Bayer's settlement to resolve thousands of US lawsuits over its Roundup weed killer is in jeopardy after a judge overseeing the suits threatened to restart litigation.
At a hearing Thursday, US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria cast doubt over the agreement reached in June after lawyers representing some of the consumers accused the company of reneging on the $11 billion (€9.3 billion) deal.
Bayer is battling approximately 125,000 lawsuits linked to Roundup weed killer and its other glyphosate-based products manufactured by Monsanto, a seed and chemical company it acquired in 2018 for a record $63 billion.
Read more: Bayer loses California appeal of Roundup cancer verdict
The plaintiffs have alleged that the glyphosate-based weed killer causes cancer, a claim consistently denied by Bayer.
'Bumps in the road'
The judge raised concerns about whether Bayer had manipulated the settlement process since it was announced.
"If I leave the stay in place, am I complicit in whatever shenanigans are taking place on the Bayer side," the judge was quoted as saying by Bloomberg news. "We’ve got a bunch of cases we could send out to other jurisdictions."
Bayer said it was confident in the finalization of the settlement over the next month without restarting litigation. "There are often some bumps in the road in implementing a resolution of this magnitude, but we remain confident that a comprehensive settlement will be finalized and executed," the company said in a statement.
Read more: Will Bayer Roundup settlement end its Monsanto nightmare?
A lawyer for consumers said he was prepared to bring cases to trial. "I agree that these Monsanto's shenanigans need to stop. Either settle or don't — at this point the only enemy is indecision," the lawyer told Reuters news agency.
Judge Chhabria told both sides to continue negotiation and confer the next steps should the stay on litigation be removed. He will revisit the matter on September 24 to discuss progress, according to a source quoted by Reuters.
adi/rt (Reuters, Bloomberg)