Despite the announcement of a global settlement between Bayer/Monsanto and thousands of Plaintiffs in the Roundup weed killer litigation, Beasley Allen is prepared to continue its fight against the drugs and pesticides giant on behalf of thousands of Plaintiffs who have pending lawsuits in state and federal courts throughout the country.
The announced settlement purports to pay $8.8 to $9.6 billion to resolve current litigation brought by lawyers representing some 95,000 plaintiffs. Also, Bayer/Monsanto states it will set aside an additional $1.25 billion to support a separate class agreement for future litigation. However, there will still be approximately 30,000 Plaintiffs represented by several prominent law firms, including Beasley Allen, that have not agreed to be a part of the current settlement.
“Unless Bayer/Monsanto makes a settlement offer that fairly and adequately compensates our clients, we are fully prepared to continue to pursue these cases to trial,” said Rhon Jones, who along with John Tomlinson and Jere Beasley of Beasley Allen, is leading the firm’s Roundup litigation team. “We do not believe Bayer wants the public to learn the tragic truth about Roundup,” he added.
For nearly 40 years, farmers around the world have used Roundup without knowledge of the dangers posed by its use. Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, has failed to place a warning label on its product informing the consumer that the product contains carcinogenic properties, particularly the chemical glyphosate. In 2015, the World Health Organization found that glyphosate, the principal “weed killer” component of Roundup, was carcinogenic to humans and could lead to the development of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Bayer/Monsanto has continued to assure the public that Roundup is harmless and poses no danger to its users.
Bayer/Monsanto lost its first three Roundup trials with total jury verdicts totaling $2.3 billion dollars.
