Bayer AG’s Monsanto unit successfully influenced a Missouri judge to significantly reduce the massive $1.5 billion jury award granted to three past users of the company’s widely-used Roundup weedkiller, who attributed their cancer diagnoses to the product. The reduction amounted to nearly $1 billion, bringing down the total payout to approximately $600 million.
This decision came by way of Judge Daniel Green, situated in Jefferson City, Missouri. While the requests from Monsanto for an entirely new trial, or a complete dismissal of the verdict were turned down, Green did agree to truncate the punitive-damages segment of the original award to around $550 million during the previous month, as per information disclosed in court filings.
Originally, the jury had allocated a total of $61.1 million in real damages to the three plaintiffs, with each receiving an added $500 million which accounted for the majority of the award. This latest decision radically modifies the fallout from this high-profile case.
For more specific details on this ruling and how it transpired, see the full article on Bloomberg Law.