On January 3, 2019, Judge Vince Chhabria issued an order to reverse bifurcate the Hardeman, Stevick and Gebeyehou v. Monsanto Co. cases, each of which is pending in the MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Under reverse bifurcation, the jury will first determine if Roundup® caused the plaintiff’s cancer. If Monsanto prevails, the trial is over. If the jury finds in favor of the plaintiffs in phase one, the trial will proceed to a second phase to determine liability and damages.
Five-Point Plan to address potential future Roundup™ claims
Bayer announced a series of actions it plans to implement following the denial of the motion to preliminarily approve the Roundup™ class settlement agreement. The package of five legal and commercial actions is designed to help the company achieve a level of risk mitigation that is comparable to the previously proposed national class solution.