California Appellate Court Hints at Good News for Roundup Litigation

In August 2018, a California federal jury awarded $289 million to Dewayne Johnson, a groundskeeper that sued Monsanto. Mr. Johnson alleged that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide product caused or was a substantial factor in contributing to his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The federal jury found that Monsanto was negligent in failing to warn Mr. Johnson that the product can cause cancer. Included in this massive verdict was $250 million in punitive damages.

These damages intended to punish Monsanto for its conduct and to deter other companies from engaging in similar conduct in the future. After post-trial motions, the trial court reduced the total award to $78.5 million.

Monsanto appealed the verdict. It asked the appellate court to reverse the verdict and enter a judgment in favor of Monsanto or to send the case back to the trial court for a re-trial because of alleged errors in the original trial. Alternatively, Monsanto argued that the total verdict should be reduced.

As part of Monsanto’s argument to reduce non-economic damages like “pain and suffering,” Monsanto callously argued that Mr. Johnson will not have many years of pain and suffering because the non-Hodgkin lymphoma will kill him in the next few years.[1]

Next Roundup Lawsuit Appellate Hearing Is Scheduled for June 2nd

The Johnson v. Monsanto appellate hearing is currently scheduled for June 2, 2020. Last week, the appellate court sent correspondence to the attorneys in the case asking them to be prepared to address issues of potential punitive damages reduction.

This means that the court does not seem inclined to overturn the entire verdict and enter a defense judgment in favor of Monsanto. If the appellate court upholds the verdict against Monsanto (even if the damages are further reduced), it would be a great victory for both Mr. Johnson and other plaintiffs in the tens of thousands of Roundup cancer lawsuits.

We’ll continue to monitor the Johnson case and the other appeals stemming from massive verdicts against Monsanto. Early in 2020, Monsanto looked poised to resolve a large number of lawsuits before any other cases had the opportunity to be tried publicly. Some have reported that Monsanto and some plaintiffs’ attorneys had negotiated deals in place.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 outbreak has shut down courts and thus, eliminated the possibility of another jury trial against Monsanto in the near future. Apparently, in light of the court shutdowns, Monsanto has walked away from those deals for the time being.

[1] Unfortunately, this is not a new tactic. Recently, defense counsel in a catastrophic birth injury case argued that the future damages should be greatly reduced because of the greatly reduced life expectancy of the child. In essence, the defendants wanted a monetary break because they so severely injured the patient that they cost her many years of her life.