Monsanto Looks To Nix $80M Loss In 1st Fed. Roundup Trial
Law360 | By Hannah Albarazi
Monsanto and its parent company Bayer AG asked U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria to either enter a judgment for Monsanto on all claims or hold a new trial, after a jury found in March that exposure to Roundup was a substantial factor in causing 70-year-old Ed Hardeman’s aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The jury found the company liable on a failure to warn claim, a negligence claim and a design defect claim, awarding Hardeman $80 million, including $75 million in punitive damages.
Monsanto told the judge Friday that “the evidence fell far short of proving that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicides caused Mr. Hardeman’s NHL.”
Monsanto argued that Hardeman failed to present any admissible scientific evidence or expert testimony regarding whether Roundup is capable of causing non-Hodgkin lymphoma and reiterated that glyphosate has been approved by regulators in countries around the world.