Bayer Statement on filing of Monsanto’s Motion for Nonsuit in Pilliod Case

The following is Bayer’s statement regarding Monsanto’s Motion for Nonsuit in the Pilliod glyphosate-based herbicide trial before Judge Winifred Smith in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Alameda.

“Bayer believes that the plaintiffs have failed to provide sufficient evidence to support their claims, which should be dismissed on multiple grounds. These include the plaintiffs’ lack of reliable evidence to prove that our glyphosate-based herbicides caused their illnesses, to support their failure to warn claims and to establish their punitive and future economic damage claims.

“Bayer stands behind its glyphosate-based products and we will vigorously defend them.”

As outlined in our brief, plaintiffs’ claims fail for at least five reasons:

1. A risk of NHL from glyphosate or glyphosate-based herbicides was not the prevailing or generally accepted view in the scientific community at the time Monsanto manufactured and distributed the products that allegedly caused Plaintiffs’ injuries; therefore, plaintiffs’ failure to warn claims are fatally flawed.
2. The consumer expectations test and design defect theory are generally inapplicable to this case.
3. Plaintiffs failed to provide reliable evidence to prove causation in light of their failure to rule out idiopathic and alternative causes that are more likely causes of Plaintiffs’ injuries than Roundup.
4. Plaintiffs failed to meet the California legal standard for punitive damages that requires clear and convincing evidence that Monsanto acted with malice and oppression. Indeed, the undisputed evidence is that Monsanto distributed a product that all regulators determined was safe.
5. Plaintiffs failed to adduce competent evidence of future economic damages.