Monsanto Hit With $289M Verdict Over Roundup Weed Killer

[Steeleballz 7,550]

I can't find the original thread where this lawsuit was mentioned, but here is the verdict. 

 

A jury awarded more than $289 million to a former school groundskeeper who claimed he was diagnosed with terminal cancer after using Monsanto Co.’s weed killer.

 

The jury, in San Francisco Superior Court, found that Monsanto had failed to warn about the dangers of Roundup and Ranger Pro, both herbicides, and awarded $39.2 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages to Dewayne “Lee” Johnson.

Johnson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014 after two years of spraying Ranger Pro, a Monsanto herbicide similar to Roundup.

 

https://www.law.com/therecorder/2018/08/10/monsanto-hit-with-289m-verdict-over-roundup-weed-killer/?slreturn=20180710184928

[Steeleballz 7,550]

 

  Oops, the initial link appears to require registration. Here's another link to the same story on a non subscription site.

 

Roundup does cause cancer, a jury has declared in an unprecedented trial into the health dangers of Monsanto's weedkiller.

After three days of deliberations, jurors on Friday sided with terminally-ill groundsman Dewayne Johnson, 46, who has just weeks to live, awarding him $250 million in punitive damages, plus nearly $40 million in compensatory damages, bringing the total to $289 million.

Specifically, in eight weeks of proceedings, the jury was left convinced that Monsanto's product caused Johnson's cancer.

They also found Monsanto 'acted with malice, oppression or fraud and should be punished for its conduct,' Judge Suzanne Ramos Bolanos announced in court in San Francisco.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6049007/Roundup-cancerous-jury-declares.html

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Didn't delve, but who in their right mind would NOT know that pesticides and herbicides are dangerous? Pretty sure the labels have many warnings about PPE, inhaling, ingesting, etc.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

17 minutes ago, Satisfied said:

Didn't delve, but who in their right mind would NOT know that pesticides and herbicides are dangerous? Pretty sure the labels have many warnings about PPE, inhaling, ingesting, etc.

 

   I think the lawsuit was based specifically on the fact that glyphosate is carcinogenic and that Monsanto was never willing to acknowledge this (and failed to put appropriate warnings on the label). To this day, they have continued to deny that there is a link between glyphosate and cancer even when others have demonstrated there is. This case was expedited as the guy is close to death, but many more lawsuits are in the pipeline.

 

   Ultimately the guy will die before he turns 47 and leave 2 kids behind. I'm sure Monsanto will appeal as well. I'm never comfortable with assigning a monetary value to the loss of ones life or the loved ones they leave behind. It's a hard thing to do. I agree with the finding that Monsanto acted with malice and that a punitive amount was necessary.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Seems like a link was proven between silicone and breast cancer. Massive award given. Later proved false .

[Steeleballz 7,550]

8 minutes ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

Seems like a link was proven between silicone and breast cancer. Massive award given. Later proved false .

 

    If it has been proven false, it's strange that the FDA still has a warning issued and has specific guidelines for product labeling.

 

       https://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/ImplantsandProsthetics/BreastImplants/ucm239995.htm

[Neonred 3,562]

I use Roundup all the time and I feel certain it's safe. 

 

I don't see any connection between my cancer and the use of the product.

 

[jg121783 3,915]

Hopefully someone will sue Monsanto for the harm their GMO crops are doing next. My grandfather died from one of their products. Agent Orange. He was a plane mechanic in Vietnam.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

6 minutes ago, jg121783 said:

Hopefully someone will sue Monsanto for the harm their GMO crops are doing next. My grandfather died from one of their products. Agent Orange. He was a plane mechanic in Vietnam.

 

  I forgot to mention that earlier, but Monsanto doesn't exactly have a great track record in this aspect of consumer safety. They have a long history of minimizing or even completely hiding the dangers of their products. 

2 hours ago, Neonred said:

I use Roundup all the time and I feel certain it's safe. 

 

I don't see any connection between my cancer and the use of the product.

 

 

  People used to think mercury was harmless too.

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

Can't put a price on human life but it appears if similar awards are awarded in the future at some point the company will be bankrupted and future victims won't have financial recourse. 

 

I am happy the victim is compensated but not at the expense of future potential plaintaifs.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

3 hours ago, jg121783 said:

Hopefully someone will sue Monsanto for the harm their GMO crops are doing next. My grandfather died from one of their products. Agent Orange. He was a plane mechanic in Vietnam.

I have an uncle who died from the same thing.  His family got zilch.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

32 minutes ago, Randyandyuni said:

Can't put a price on human life but it appears if similar awards are awarded in the future at some point the company will be bankrupted and future victims won't have financial recourse. 

 

I am happy the victim is compensated but not at the expense of future potential plaintaifs.

 

    In theory, there would be an argument against similar punitive damages in successive cases. That argument being that they have already been "punished" for the conduct. In practice it won't work that way, and many of the verdicts will likely be appealed. Some of the cases are part of a class action suit IIRC, so this is probably the point in time where Monsanto needs to consider whether a settlement is better than all the trials and publicity.

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

Another way to enrich lawyers, I worked at a steel mill in the 80s that was a defendant in the asbestosis class action suits, if memory serves me correctly he became fabuously wealthy and Bought the Baltimore Orioles while his clients suffered in agony with a pittance for their suffering

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

13 minutes ago, Randyandyuni said:

Another way to enrich lawyers, I worked at a steel mill in the 80s that was a defendant in the asbestosis class action suits, if memory serves me correctly he became fabuously wealthy and Bought the Baltimore Orioles while his clients suffered in agony with a pittance for their suffering

The people that made bank in the Tobacco lawsuits were Lawyers