The risk of absolute product liability
Daily Journal | Glenn Lammi
The California Supreme Court will soon decide whether to review Johnson v. Monsanto, a product-liability case that spawned tens of thousands of similar lawsuits. In Johnson, the California Court of Appeal affirmed that the manufacturer of Roundup, an herbicide containing glyphosate, was liable for plaintiff Dewayne Johnson’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Among the many reasons the court should grant Monsanto’s petition, one stands out as especially critical for both manufacturers and consumers. The appeals court’s standard for reviewing the jury’s failure-to-warn decision threatens to transform traditional product liability into absolute liability.