What does Bayers US Supreme Court case mean for the thousands of Roundup lawsuits?

* The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the Bayer case on Monday

* Bayer faces Roundup claims from nearly 65,000 US plaintiffs

* The company’s $7.25 billion settlement awaits judge’s approval

April 26 – The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on Bayer’s bid to limit thousands of lawsuits alleging the German company’s Roundup weed killer causes cancer; This case was part of a wide-ranging lawsuit over the product that had been going on for years.

Let’s take a look at how the court decision, expected at the end of June, may affect Bayer’s overall liability.

WHAT IS THE SUPREME COURT CASE ABOUT? The justices are hearing Bayer’s appeal of the lower court’s ruling in a case filed by a man who said he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, after years of exposure to Roundup. Missouri Court of Appeals, St. It upheld a St. Louis jury’s $1.25 million verdict against plaintiff John Durnell based on his cancer diagnosis.

The company faces tens of thousands of similar Roundup-related lawsuits in both federal and state courts across the country. At issue in the Supreme Court is whether a federal law dictating warning labels on pesticides takes precedence over similar state laws. Bayer argues that the plaintiffs cannot claim that it violated state law by failing to warn about any cancer risk posed by Roundup because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not identified such a risk and does not require such a warning to be included on the product’s label. President Donald Trump’s administration sided with Bayer in the case.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule by the end of June.

A ruling in favor of Bayer would deal a major blow to many other cases because plaintiffs would no longer be able to claim that the company failed to comply with state law if its label did not include a warning about cancer risk.

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF COLLECTION CASES?

Bayer faces claims from nearly 65,000 plaintiffs regarding Roundup in U.S. state and federal courts. In lawsuits filed starting in 2015, plaintiffs said they contracted non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other types of cancer after using the weed killer at home or at work. Roundup is among the most widely used weed killers in the United States. Bayer said decades of studies have shown Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, to be safe for human use.

WHAT SOLUTION DID BAYER REACH? In February, Bayer announced it had reached a $7.25 billion settlement with attorneys trying to represent a nationwide class of people who say exposure to Roundup causes cancer. The settlement aims to resolve most of the remaining lawsuits, as well as potential lawsuits from people who were exposed to Roundup and developed cancer in the future. A state court judge in Missouri gave the proposed solution the initial green light in March. Final approval has not yet been given and the hearing is scheduled for July.

CAN THE SUPREME COURT DECISION END ALL CASES?

If the Supreme Court sides with Bayer, such a decision will not automatically mean that all remaining cases will be dismissed.

Most of the lawsuits involve allegations that the company failed to warn consumers about cancer on the Roundup label; This matter is before the judges. However, many of these also contain other claims that may continue. The plaintiffs accused Bayer of being negligent and misrepresenting the safety of Roundup in its marketing and claimed the product was defective for its intended purpose.

However, Bayer may attempt to argue that a Supreme Court decision in its favor in these cases would invalidate the remaining claims. A win for the company at the Supreme Court could also help Bayer win appeals in several cases it lost at trial.

IS THE SUPREME COURT CASE IMPORTANT FOR THE SOLUTION?

Whatever the court decides, it will not change the terms of the agreement, so the people who agreed to the agreement will not be affected. However, if Bayer wins, people who withdraw from the agreement and continue their lawsuits will have limited claims. The settlement also does not apply to the small number of cases heard in federal court rather than state court; Therefore, if the court sides with Bayer, these cases will also be affected.

Plaintiffs suing Bayer over Roundup have until June 4 to decide whether to abandon the settlement and pursue their cases in court. However, this period may come and go before the Supreme Court makes its decision. Plaintiffs concerned about how the Supreme Court’s decision will affect their cases may have to choose whether to settle without knowing the justices’ final decision.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.