In December 2022, a reader living in Wales drew attention to Reuters report that Bayer, France’s crop chemical and pharmaceutical group, has been ordered to pay miserly compensation of 11,135 euros (£9565) to a French farmer who inhaled fumes from a weedkiller, ending a 15-year legal battle.
Farmer Paul Francois had argued that the fumes he inhaled in 2004 from the weedkiller Lasso caused neurological problems, including memory loss, fainting and headaches. It was withdrawn from the French market in 2007, many years after it was banned in Canada, Belgium and the UK.
Anti-pesticide groups supporting his campaign expressed disappointment over the sum: “11,135 euros for 15 years of life put between brackets, of sleepless nights, I would perhaps have done better to use this time to play the lottery,” he told French public radio (France-Justice),
After a court ruled in 2019 that Monsanto, which had meanwhile become a subsidiary of Bayer, was liable for providing inadequate safety information on Lasso, France’s highest court in 2020 rejected a final company appeal, opening the way for another court to decide on damages.
Francois’ verdict: “This is a strong signal from our justice system in France: We don’t touch these multinationals.”
Two years later our reader in Wales has drawn attention to a Reuters article reporting that the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ordered Bayer on Friday to pay $2.25 billion to John McKivison (right). The jury found that his non-Hodgkins lymphoma was the result of using Roundup for yard work at his house in Pennsylvania for a period of several years.
The verdict includes $250 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages. Bayer disagreed with the jury’s adverse verdict and believes that they have strong arguments on appeal to get this verdict overturned and the unconstitutionally excessive damage award eliminated or reduced. The verdict comes after five other recent wins late last year by plaintiffs suing Bayer over Roundup but – as Bayer pointed out – some previous damages awards had been reduced by more than 90%.
Last year produced verdicts against the company totalling more than $2 billion. Bayer is appealing those verdicts, which include large punitive damages awards and are likely to be reduced because they exceed U.S. Supreme Court guidance.
Reader Richard Bruce recommends this detailed account:
Groundskeeper, 49, from Pennsylvania is awarded record $2.25BILLION after jury finds decades of using Roundup weed killer caused his blood cancer | Daily Mail Online
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