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The Roundup Stickup: A trial lawyer allegedly argued it’s cheaper to be extorted than sued.

December 25, 2019 in In The News

Wall Street Journal | By the Editorial Board

Tort lawyers often use the threat of jackpot verdicts to extort settlements from business targets. But when does a shakedown become criminal extortion? Last week the federal government charged Timothy Litzenburg for allegedly crossing that legal line.

Mr. Litzenburg, 37, made a name for himself at the Miller Firm in Virginia, where he was part of a team suing Bayer on behalf of a groundskeeper who said the weed killer Roundup caused his cancer. Trial lawyers profit by taking a hefty chunk of a settlement or damages. But when Mr. Litzenburg opened his own law firm last year, he allegedly had a different business model in mind.

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Bayer today provided an update on its five-point plan to address future Roundup™ litigation risk after its May 27th decision to withdraw from the national class process. The company is now in more control of important aspects of the risk mitigation process and has sketched out two basic scenarios going forward to provide a path to closure of this litigation. The first scenario is based on obtaining a favorable decision by the United States Supreme Court on a cross-cutting issue like federal preemption which would effectively and largely end the U.S. Roundup™ litigation. The second scenario assumes that the Supreme Court either declines to hear the Hardeman case or issues a ruling in favor of plaintiff – in that case the company would activate its own claims administration program.

Read about the five-point plan here.