Roundup Litigation

Shortly after Bayer bought Monsanto in 2018, the company was hit with thousands of lawsuits linking Roundup® to the development of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Some resulted in huge settlements for the plaintiffs. This includes:

• Johnson v Monsanto (August 2018) - $289.2 million
• Hardeman v Monsanto (February 2019) - $80.2 million
• Pilliod v Monsanto (May 2019)- $2.055 billion

Bayer's settlement agreement includes no admission of wrongdoing, and as of now, they continue to sell the product without any warning labels. However, in July of 2021, the company announced that it will stop selling glyphosate-based Roundup® to the public in 2023. While they still are not admitting there is anything wrong with the product, Bayer hopes that this move will help minimize future lawsuits. The new formulation of Roundup® will use “alternative active ingredients,” subject to review and approval from state safety agencies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Read more: Bayer to Pull Roundup from Store Shelves to Avoid More Lawsuits

Much has happened since 2020 when Bayer originally proposed a $10 billion global settlement to resolve existing claims. In addition to the settlement, this proposal also included the creation of a controversial scientific panel that would decide the fate of all future claims. After the final approval of the proposal was delayed for many months, in May 2021 a judge rejected it. In August 2021, Bayer put aside $4.5 billion to pay future claims.

The company achieved four victories in a row when it won cases in October and December of 2021 and again in January and June of 2022. While this could potentially be bad news for plaintiffs, it's important to note that Bayer has been settling cases it does not want to go to trial and trying cases it thinks it can win. 

On June 21st, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court formally declined to hear an appeal from Bayer that could have reversed the current course for Roundup® litigation and ended any future litigation. The remaining trials are still ongoing.

Some of the plaintiffs involved in the recent Roundup® lawsuits received their settlements checks in 2021 and 2022. Many others will receive their Roundup® settlement money in the near future, as the rest of the settlements are processed. 

In a major win for victims, on May 10, 2022, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, a representative for the Biden Administration, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to refuse to hear Bayer’s request to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims. If the request was granted, this could free the company from potentially having to pay out billions of dollars for the remaining outstanding cases and shield Bayer from additional future claims.

Bayer’s argued that the Federal "Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act," which requires EPA label approval, preempts the “failure to warn” claims that were made under state law. However, Prelogar wrote, "EPA's approval of labeling that does not warn about particular chronic risks does not by itself preempt a state-law requirement to provide such warnings.”

The Supreme Court had asked for the administration’s opinion in December 2021 and generally gives deference to the recommendations of the Solicitor General. While it took some time, in June 2022, the Supreme Court rejected Bayer’s appeal. The glyphosate-based version of Roundup®, which is alleged to be the cause of cancer claims, will be pulled from shelves by the end of 2022. However, Bayer may still be facing another ten years of cancer claims from users of Roundup® who have not yet been diagnosed.

Recently, Bayer has had defense victories in a total of five trials. While this may cause some concern, it’s important to note that at this point, Bayer has the luxury of choosing which cases to take to trial and which to settle. Some say that Bayer is only taking weaker cases to trial, creating the illusion that the tides are turning in Bayer’s favor. This assumption was reinforced in October 2022, when Bayer unexpectedly settled the case of Langford v. Monsanto Co., et al. just three days before the trial was set to begin. It’s likely that the company realized the plaintiffs had a strong case and opted to settle for an undisclosed amount rather than take their chances in court.

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukemia or cancer of the blood. It can take a few years for symptoms to develop after developing in bone marrow and moving into the blood. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen” based on studies linking it to blood cancers, including CLL. That same year, a woman who had been diagnosed with CLL and had been exposed to Roundup® filed suit against the company. Others have followed in the years since.

Read more: 7 Key Factors that Can Affect Your Roundup Claim

Several studies have potentially linked glyphosate with an increased risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. One, published in 2019, found that exposure to glyphosate increased the risk of developing the disease by 41%. Additional studies, including a 2021 review also suggested that glyphosate exposure may alter human chromosomes, leading to the development of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Many of the cases against Bayer are by plaintiffs who have used Roundup® and have subsequently developed lymphoma. Bayer’s $11 billion 2022 agreement includes settlements designated for potential future claims from Roundup® users who may develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Shockingly, a report released by a unit of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in June 2022 found that more than 80% of urine samples collected from adults and children in the U.S. contained glyphosate, the carcinogenic chemical contained in Roundup®. Almost one-third of the contaminated urine came from children between the ages of 6 and 18. Scientists have noted that these results are both “concerning” and “disturbing.”

This possibly indicates that while you may not have directly used Roundup®, you’ve likely been exposed due to the pesticides sprayed on the foods you consume. Studies have shown that both the concentration and prevalence of glyphosate in human urine have been steadily increasing since the 1990s when Monsanto Co. first introduced genetically engineered food crops specifically designed to tolerate being directly sprayed with Roundup®. Despite researchers claiming that there was “an urgent need” for a deeper inspection of the potential impact of glyphosate on human health back in 2017, the chemical is still widely used today. In fact, it has been called the most widely-used pesticide in human history.

A study conducted by researchers at UCLA, which was released in September 2022, found apparent links between pesticides, including glyphosate, and the risk of developing thyroid cancer. Over the past 30 years, the incidence of thyroid cancer in the United States has increased by 3% annually.

Glyphosate has been shown to induce DNA cell damage in fetuses, causing tumor growth and chromosomal abnormalities. Pesticides can also alter the production of thyroid hormones, which is associated with the risk of developing thyroid cancer.

This particular study noted that advanced thyroid cancers with the greatest risk for recurrence or mortality are higher in California than in other states. California also ranks first in the country for agricultural production. It goes on to say that in 2008, the state used 162 million pounds of agricultural pesticides, accounting for approximately 25% of the total usage across the country. Researchers now hypothesize that pesticide exposure may be a key link to the development of thyroid cancer and note that further investigation is needed.

A study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology in November 2022 found that perinatal or prenatal exposure to glyphosate can trigger an overload of iron, which causes permanent oxidative liver damage. This is just one in a stream of studies that seem to reinforce just how dangerous Roundup® exposure can be.

In 2019, a study by researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine reported an association between glyphosate and human liver problems. The study, which was published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, examined levels of glyphosate in the urine of patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (a type of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease), and those without. They found that regardless of other factors, such as race and age, levels of glyphosate residue were significantly higher in patients with liver disease. These results, paired with previous animal studies, suggest a link between the use of Roundup® and other forms of glyphosate on our food supply and the development of liver disease.

Not only has glyphosate been linked to the development of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other forms of cancer, but a new study, published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation on July 28, 2022, found that the chemical may also increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease and other neurologic disorders.

There have long been patients with Parkinson’s disease who claimed that exposure to Roundup® caused their condition, but they have not been included in any of the class action suits. However, the release of this study may open up the door for another wave of Roundup® lawsuits coming from Parkinson's patients.

If you or a loved one has used Monsanto’s Roundup® and developed cancer, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Despite the current settlement agreement, it's not too late to file your own Roundup® lawsuit. Class action lawsuits continue to be filed and the third wave of suits is currently being prepared for trial. 

However, it’s important to note that each state is governed by a specific statute of limitations that gives potential plaintiffs a deadline to file. Therefore, individuals who wish to file a Roundup® lawsuit are urged to contact an attorney as soon as possible.

The experts at Cooney & Conway are here to protect your legal rights. To learn more about whether you may be eligible to file a Roundup® lawsuit, please call us toll-free at 800-322-5573 or fill out the form below and our team will be in touch with you shortly.

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