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 Bayer has committed up to $9.6 billion to resolve existing claims
alleging that Roundup causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood
cancer. The class settlement would address those who get sick in the
future.
Wednesday's hearing before District Judge Vince Chhabria in San
Francisco comes a day after the judge questioned why class members
would agree to the deal when jury trials have gone well against
Bayer.
Bayer inherited Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, and the
litigation as part of a $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto in 2018.
The company has said that decades of studies have shown Roundup and
glyphosate are safe for human use. Bayer last year defeated an
attempt by California to require a cancer warning label on the
weedkiller.
Bayer on Tuesday said it was common for a judge to question a
settlement prior to a hearing. "We look forward to working with the
court and the parties through the approval process to ensure the
class plan is fair to all parties," Bayer said in a statement.
The settlement would create a class of potentially millions of
people who have been exposed to Roundup at home or work but who are
not sick or who have not retained a lawyer.
Roundup users can opt out in the coming months and retain their full
legal rights. Those who become part of the class would be eligible
for free medical exams and up to $200,000 if they develop
non-Hodgkin lymphoma during the agreement's four-year period.
The agreement would pause all litigation for four years and prevent
class members from seeking punitive damages if they refuse
compensation and ultimately decide to sue.
The stakes are high. Glyphosate-based weedkillers dominate the
market and sales have boomed with the introduction in the 1990s of
genetically modified "Roundup Ready" crops that resist the
herbicide.
Critics of the settlement say the proposal would unfairly limit
consumers' legal rights.
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 "It is an unconscionable gift
to Monsanto," said an objection to the
settlement by 93 personal injury law firms.
Bayer has said the law has been misapplied in
the three cases that went to trial, each of
which resulted in tens of millions of dollars
for plaintiffs.
One of those trials, a $25 million federal jury
verdict against Bayer, was upheld by an appeals
court on Friday.
Bayer said it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to
review the case. It hopes a favorable outcome
would essentially wipe out future claims against
it. Bayer negotiated the current
proposal with class action lawyers led by Elizabeth Cabraser. She
argued in court papers the plan provides for outreach to
undocumented migrant workers and other individuals who so far have
not brought many of the claims against Bayer.
The class settlement proposal also establishes a science panel that
would spend the four-year litigation pause assessing the link
between Roundup and cancer.
A prior version of the settlement unveiled in June proposed binding
Bayer and class members to that panel's findings.
Chhabria said in July he was concerned the panel was replacing a
jury with scientists. The parties subsequently toned down the
panel's role.
On Tuesday, the judge questioned how the science panel could be in
the interest of class members, given how well jury trials have gone
for plaintiffs.
(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Noeleen
Walder and Bill Berkrot)
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