ST. LOUIS — Bayer has lost its appeal of a $25 million ruling that Roundup caused a California man's non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
The decision Friday by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco undercuts Bayer's hopes of limiting damages from Roundup litigation.
"It's a slam dunk for plaintiffs," Leslie Brueckner, an attorney who helped with the appeal, said, according to Reuters. "This proves these claims are viable in the tort system."
In the first federal Roundup case to go to trial, a jury in 2019 awarded Edwin Hardeman $5 million in compensatory damages and $75 million in punitive damages. The punitive amount was later slashed to $20 million and the appeals court upheld the new figure.
Citing Environmental Protection Agency rulings in its favor, Bayer argued that states, such as California, don't have the authority to deviate from federal regulations for herbicides.
Bayer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Business Journal.
It was Bayer's second appeal court loss stemming from three trial verdicts that have gone against the German company. Tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the company by plaintiffs claiming their cancer was caused by Roundup, which Bayer acquired as part of its $63 billion acquisition of St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. in 2018.
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