Monsanto Roundup Lawsuit Payout Slashed to $400 Million

At the beginning of the year, Monsanto and its parent company Bayer were ordered to pay a record sum to a Pennsylvania man, John McKivison, who claimed that their Roundup weed killer caused his blood cancer. A judge ordered the company to pay out $2.25 billion in both punitive and compensatory damages.

After the ruling, the pharmaceutical giant vowed to fight the verdict, claiming that it disagreed with the court’s decision on its liability.

Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, they have been able to do just that.

An appellate ruling in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania reduced Monsanto’s liability to the man by 82%, or almost $1.9 billion, meaning that they will now only have to pay him $350 million in punitive damages and just over $50 million in compensatory damages.

The ruling was handed down on Tuesday, June 4.

Monsanto told the outlet that it would appeal this verdict as well, claiming that the main ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, isn’t a carcinogen and, as such, didn’t cause the man’s blood cancer. The company’s claim directly refutes a World Health Organization report finding that said otherwise.

In a statement made on Tuesday shortly after the verdict, the company said that it stands by “the overwhelming weight of scientific research and assessments by leading health regulators and scientists” that its product is safe.

However, to date, Bayer has paid more than $10 billion in cancer-related settlements involving its weed-killing product. According to Reuters, the company has “prevailed in 14 of the last 20 Roundup trials, but it also racked up a string of losses in late 2023 and early 2024, resulting in more than $4 billion in verdicts.”

Some of those verdicts were subsequently reduced, like McKivison’s, but they helped end a “nine-trial winning streak for Bayer.”

In January, the company distributed over $500 million in three lawsuit losses. Danny Anderson of California, Jimmy Draeger of Missouri, and Valorie Gunther of New York “were awarded a combined $61.1 million in compensatory damages and $500 million each in punitive damages,” according to the New York Post.

All three claimed that their non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnoses were the result of exposure to Roundup. Brenda, Draeger’s wife, also got $100,000 for alleged damages brought on by her husband’s illness.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to the Mayo Clinic, typically begins in white blood cells and causes symptoms like exhaustion, night sweats, swollen lymph nodes, and difficulty breathing. The main component of the weed killer, glyphosate, is one chemical that might cause this kind of cancer if exposed to it.