2021 UPDATE: The 9th Circuit upheld the award of $25 million in damages to Plaintiff Edward Hardeman, ruling against Monsanto’s appeal of the award of punitive damages.
UPDATE: Trial Judge Vince Chhabria reduced the jury award of punitive damages from $75 million to $20 million dollars, making the final award $25 million dollars.
UPDATE: The jury awarded over $80 million dollars to plaintiff Edwin Hardeman; compensatory damages of $5.27 million and punitive damages of $75 million.
Plaintiff Edwin Hardeman used Roundup weedkiller (active ingredient glyphosate) in the 1980s until 2012 on his 56 acre Sonoma County property to treat poison oak, overgrowth and weeds. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer, in 2015. He underwent chemotherapy and is currently in remission from his cancer.
Published March 22, 2019
A federal court jury has ruled unanimously that Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller was a substantial contributing factor in the development of a California man’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma (also known as non-Hodgkins’s lymphoma). This is the first federal bellwether (test case) of the federal Multi-District Litigation (MDL) involving claims that Roundup causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The trial was bifurcated into two phases. This verdict was on the narrow question of whether Roundup caused Mr. Hardeman’s cancer. The jury answered “Yes” to the only question on the verdict form:
“Did Mr. Hardeman prove by a preponderance of the evidence that his exposure to Roundup was a substantial factor in causing his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma?”
Monsanto was acquired by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG last year. Bayer issued a statement on Twitter saying that it continues to believe that glyphosate-based herbicides do not cause cancer.
The second phase of the trial, to determine liability and damages, is taking place right now. Evidence is being presented about Monsanto’s knowledge of Roundup’s cancer-causing properties, whether they failed to warn of known hazards, and whether Monsanto is liable for, and the amount of, any damages suffered by Mr. Hardeman.
Thornton Law Firm is currently handling non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer cases involving Roundup weedkiller. We have a long standing history of litigation against Monsanto and Bayer involving Roundup. We filed suit in Delaware in 2012 on behalf of a large number of children with spina bifida and other serious birth injuries whose parents were tobacco farmers in Argentina. We will utilize our extensive experience and expertise in representing persons with cancer and other serious disease from exposures to toxic substances in providing representation to persons with non-Hodgkin lymphoma from usage of one of the largest selling herbicides worldwide. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after occupational or heavy residential exposure to Roundup, please call Attorney David Strouss at 888-491-9726 or tell us your story online here.
