California couple, Alva and Alberta Pilliod awarded $2 billion after proving Roundup weed killer caused them to get cancer. Third loss in a row for Monsanto- with 13K cases to go.
A California couple on Monday were awarded more than $2 billion in damages after a jury agreed that the Roundup weed killer they had been using for more than three decades caused them to get cancer.
The jury found the company failed to warn consumers that Roundup could cause cancer, attorneys said, dealing Monsanto its third legal defeat in a row in a series of lawsuits claiming the herbicide was behind the development of cancer.
Alva and Alberta Pilliod, of Livermore, were both diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma following years of weed killer use, their lawyers claimed.
In their suit, they accused Monsanto of ‘fraudulently representing that Roundup is safe despite scientific evidence linking exposure to NHL.’
Bayer, the parent company for Monsanto said they believed the $2 billion punitive judgment was ‘excessive and unjustifiable’ and planned to appeal the decision.
‘We have a great sympathy for Mr. and Mrs. Pilliod, but evidence in this case was clear that both have long histories of illnesses known to be substantial risk factors for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL),’ Bayer said in a released statement.
“We wish that Monsanto had warned us ahead of time about the dangers of using Roundup:” Bay Area couple who were awarded historic $2B in damages after claiming Monsanto’s Roundup caused their cancer. pic.twitter.com/PfbVi9P3bW
— Riya (@loislane28) May 14, 2019
Monsanto and the EPA accused of having blood on their hands:
A jury in San Francisco Superior Court in Oakland found the company liable after a seven-week trial — citing its active ingredient, glyphosate, as the underlying cause of the cancer.
‘They were given an incredibly difficult task having to analyze the highly-complex scientific issues in this case,’ said co-lead trial counsel R. Brent Wisner, of Baum Hedlund Law, in a statement after the verdict.
‘The jury saw for themselves internal company documents demonstrating that, from day one, Monsanto has never had any interest in finding out whether Roundup is safe,’ he explained. ‘Instead of investing in sound science, they invested millions in attacking science that threatened their business agenda…They took detailed notes, asked incredibly thoughtful questions and in the end, came to understand that the science shows there are serious health hazards associated with Roundup and that Monsanto did nothing to warn people about the risk.’
The first two legal defeats for Monsanto saw verdicts of $289.2 and $80 million, according to Hedlund Law. Michael Miller, who served with Wisner as co-lead trial counsel, said the couple was able to get more this time around due to a more lenient court process.
‘Unlike the first two Monsanto trials, where the judges severely limited the amount of plaintiffs’ evidence, we were finally allowed to show a jury the mountain of evidence showing Monsanto’s manipulation of science, the media and regulatory agencies to forward their own agenda despite Roundup’s severe harm to the animal kingdom and humankind,’ Miller said.
Verdicts against Monsanto in the Roundup cancer litigation now stand at $2.424 billion — with 13,400 cases still pending in state and federal courts.
‘Mounting evidence suggests that exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer increases the risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer that starts in cells called lymphocytes, which are part of the body’s immune system,’ the law firm representing Alva and Alberta Pilliod posted on its website. ‘The problem is that Monsanto marketed Roundup as being a safe product for decades, even though the company allegedly knew that a Roundup cancer link existed, along with and a host of other serious health issues. A number of Roundup cancer studies have confirmed that glyphosate exposure is a probable cause of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other cancers.’
Brent Wisner, one of the attorneys who represented the Pilliods, said this most recent case not only sent a message to Monsanto, but to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which he accused of helping hide the effects of glyphosate.
‘For 45 years the EPA has been saying it doesn’t cause cancer,’ Wisner said. ‘They’d have to come to grips that they have blood in their hands.’
