On Friday, a $1.56 billion verdict was issued against Bayer’s Monsanto in relation to its Roundup product. This marks the fourth consecutive judgment against the conglomerate, but it stood apart from the previous cases due to a variety of unique factors.
Notably, this trial was led by a pair of previously patent attorneys from Baker McKenzie who founded a civil litigation firm only three years prior. This was the co-leads, Jay Utley and Bart Rankin from Forrest Weldon Law Group’s first time presiding over a mass tort case. Despite their relative inexperience in this specialized field, they successfully represented their three plaintiffs diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the Roundup trial.
Further distinguishing this trial from the previous ones was its location. For the first time, a Roundup trial was conducted in Jefferson City, the capital of Missouri, diverging from the usual venues.
Additional details of the case can be found in the original Law.com article.