Georgia jury orders Monsanto parent to pay nearly $2.1 billion in
Roundup weedkiller lawsuit
[March 24, 2025] By
WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury in Georgia has ordered Monsanto parent Bayer to
pay nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who says the company's
Roundup weed killer caused his cancer, according to attorneys
representing the plaintiff.
The verdict marks the latest in a long-running series of court battles
Monsanto has faced over its Roundup herbicide. The agrochemical giant
says it will appeal the verdict, reached in a Georgia courtroom late
Friday, in efforts to overturn the decision.
The penalties awarded include $65 million in compensatory damages and $2
billion in punitive damages, law firms Arnold & Itkin LLP and Kline &
Specter PC said in a statement. That marks one of the largest legal
settlements reached in a Roundup-related case to date.
Plaintiff John Barnes filed his lawsuit against Monsanto in 2021,
seeking damages related to his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Arnold & Itkin
attorney Kyle Findley, the lead trial lawyer on the case, said the
verdict will help put his client in a better position to get the
treatment he needs going forward.
“It’s been a long road for him ... and he was happy that the truth
related to the product (has) been exposed,” Findley told The Associated
Press on Sunday. He called the verdict an “important milestone” after
"another example of Monsanto’s refusal to accept responsibility for
poisoning people with this toxic product.”
Germany-based Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, has continued to
dispute claims that Roundup causes cancer. But the company has been hit
with more than 177,000 lawsuits involving the weedkiller and set aside
$16 billion to settle cases.
In a statement, Monsanto said Friday's verdict “conflicts with the
overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and the consensus of
regulatory bodies and their scientific assessments worldwide.” The
company added that it continues “to stand fully behind the safety” of
Roundup products.
For a variety of crops — including corn, soybeans and cotton — Roundup
is designed to work with genetically modified seeds that resist the
weedkiller’s deadly effect. It allows farmers to produce more while
conserving the soil by tilling it less.
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In this Feb. 24, 2019, file photo, containers of Roundup are
displayed on a store shelf in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Haven Daley,
File)
 Some studies associate Roundup’s key
ingredient, glyphosate, with cancer, although the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to
humans when used as directed. Still, numerous lawsuits over the
weedkiller allege glyphosate does cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma,
arguing that Monsanto has failed to warn the public about serious
risks for years.
Findley said that evidence relating to Barnes' case show “many years
of cover-ups" and “backroom dealings.” He accused Monsanto of
ignoring several scientific studies related to the toxicity of
Roundup and said the company “tried to find ways to persuade and
distract and deny the connection between this product and
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”
Friday's decision marks the fourth Roundup-related verdict that
Findley's team has won to date — the largest of which was awarded in
Philadelphia in January 2024, with damages totaling $2.25 billion.
And he said his law firm has “many more clients who are similarly
situated as Mr. Barnes.”
Monsanto, meanwhile, also maintains that it “remains committed to
trying cases” — and argues its wider record of Roundup-related
litigation continues to reinforce the safety of its products. The
company said it has prevailed in 17 of the last 25 related trials,
while some previous damage awards have been reduced.
Bayer has recently renewed and expanded an effort across a handful
of U.S. states to protect pesticide companies from claims they
failed to warn that a product causes cancer, if labeling otherwise
complies with EPA regulations. The company and other industry
supports argue that litigation costs are unstainable and could
impact Roundup’s future availability. But opponents stress that such
legislation would limit accountability.
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