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 The lawsuit by California resident Edwin Hardeman against the
company began on Monday morning in federal rather than state court.
The trial is also a test case for a larger litigation. More than 760
of the 9,300 Roundup cases nationwide are consolidated in the
federal court in San Francisco that is hearing Hardeman's case.
Bayer denies all allegations that Roundup or glyphosate cause
cancer, specifically non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, saying decades of
independent studies have shown the world's most widely used weed
killer to be safe for human use and noting that regulators around
the world have approved the product.
During the first phase in the trial, the nine-person jury is asked
to weigh scientific evidence to determine whether Roundup caused
Hardeman's lymphoma.
Aimee Wagstaff, a lawyer for Hardeman, told a packed courtroom
during her opening statement on Monday that chemicals in Roundup
made the weed killer more toxic than glyphosate alone, causing the
man's cancer.
But U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, who presides over the
federal litigation, repeatedly scolded her for "crossing the line"
by referring to internal corporate communications the judge has said
have no bearing on the science in the case.
"You completely disregarded the limitations," Chhabria said.
In a January ruling, Chhabria called evidence by plaintiffs that the
company allegedly attempted to influence regulators and manipulate
public opinion "a distraction" from the scientific question of
whether glyphosate causes cancer.
If the jury determines Roundup caused Hardeman's cancer, the judge
said such evidence could be presented in a second trial phase.
Plaintiffs criticized Chhabria's order dividing the trial and
restricting evidence as "unfair," saying their scientific evidence
allegedly showing glyphosate causes cancer is inextricably linked to
Monsanto's alleged wrongful conduct.
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Evidence of corporate misconduct was seen as playing a key role in
the finding by a California state court jury in August that Roundup
caused another man's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and that Bayer's
Monsanto unit failed to warn consumers about the weed killer's
cancer risks. That jury's $289 million damages award was later
reduced to $78 million.
Bayer's share price dropped 10 percent following the verdict and has
remained volatile.
Brian Stekloff, a lawyer for Bayer, in his opening statement
attacked the idea of a link between Roundup and cancer. He noted
U.S. rates of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have remained steady over time,
even when Roundup use began to soar in the 1990s.
Hardeman began using the Roundup brand herbicide with glyphosate in
the 1980s to control poison oak and weeds on his property and
sprayed "large volumes" of the chemical for many years on a regular
basis, according to court documents. He was diagnosed with
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 66 in February 2015 and filed
his lawsuit a year later. Hardeman is currently in remission.
But Stekloff on Monday said Hardeman's age and his history of
chronic hepatitis C were known risk factors for developing lymphoma.
The lawyer also said the majority of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
incidents are idiopathic, or have no known cause.
(Reporting by Jim Christie in San Francisco, Writing by Tina Bellon;
editing by Anthony Lin, Lisa Shumamker and Tom Brown)
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