Monsanto Looks To Whack $2B Roundup Verdict
Law360 | Lauren Berg
Monsanto urged a California judge to toss a jury’s verdict that Roundup likely caused a couple’s cancer and its staggering $2.055 billion damages award and enter judgment for the company or order a new trial, arguing the verdict was not based on evidence but on “deep passion and prejudice.”
In its motion for a new trial filed Monday, the Bayer AG subsidiary argued that the multibillion-dollar award was imposed in the absence of any evidence that the company acted with malice and in the face of the “undisputed fact” that Monsanto’s determination about the safety of Roundup aligned with the conclusions of independent regulators and scientists throughout the world.
“The verdicts do not reflect the evidence presented in the case; they reflect deep passion and prejudice borne from plaintiffs’ counsel’s improper argument rested on inflammatory, fabricated and irrelevant evidence that should have been excluded,” Monsanto said. “The resulting trial focused not on ascertaining the truth regarding the state of the science, causation, and compliance with legal duties, but instead on vilifying Monsanto in the abstract.”