US judge rejects Bayer’s $2B deal to resolve future Roundup suits

The judge called the proposal ‘unreasonable’ and said it serves Monsanto, which Bayer acquired in 2018, while shortchanging Roundup users.

A United States judge rejected Bayer’s $2bn class action proposal to resolve future lawsuits alleging its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, saying in a Wednesday order that parts of the plan were “clearly unreasonable”. US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said the proposal “would accomplish a lot for Monsanto”, which Bayer acquired for $63bn in 2018, and “would accomplish far less for the Roundup users” who are currently healthy. The agreement would have paused litigation linking Roundup to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) for four years and would have barred Roundup users from seeking punitive damages once the pause on litigation expired.