Monsanto has been ordered to pay some USD 80 million to an American retiree who blames his cancer on the agribusiness giant's weedkiller Roundup, in a case that could influence the outcome of thousands more like it.
A San Francisco jury Wednesday found the firm, which is owned by Bayer, had been "negligent by not using reasonable care" to warn of the risks of its product, ordering it to pay Edwin Hardeman USD 75 million in punitive damages, a little over USD 5 million in compensation and USD 200,000 for medical expenses.
It was the second stinging legal verdict for Monsanto in recent months after it lost a case to a California school groundskeeper suffering from terminal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and was ordered to pay out tens of millions of dollars.
The jury also found that Roundup's design was defective and that the product lacked sufficient warnings of potential risk.
The same jury had previously found in an earlier part of the trial that a quarter century exposure to Roundup, whose principal ingredient is controversial chemical glyphosate, was a "substantial factor" in giving the 70-year-old Hardeman non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
The decision also marks a major setback for Bayer, which purchased Monsanto in June 2018 for USD 63 billion.
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In Frankfurt Thursday, Bayer's share price fell 1.14 per cent to 55.69 euros by 0830 GMT -- extending losses as Bayer has seen its market value shrink by 46 per cent since it bought Monsanto.
The company, which is facing thousands more similar lawsuits in the United States, said it would appeal the verdict even though it sympathised with Hardeman's plight.
"We are disappointed with the jury's decision, but this verdict does not change the weight of over four decades of extensive science and the conclusions of regulators worldwide that support the safety of our glyphosate-based herbicides and that they are not carcinogenic," Bayer said in a statement.
"The verdict in this trial has no impact on future cases and trials, as each one has its own factual and legal circumstances."
"It speaks volumes that not one Monsanto employee, past or present, came live to trial to defend Roundup's safety or Monsanto's actions." - 'Back against the wall'
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told AFP that Hardeman's case was "important as a bellwether, which means it helps predict how future cases will be decided."
Tobias said the verdict "bodes well" for plaintiffs in the thousands of other cases filed against Monsanto, and was "likely to encourage plaintiffs and their counsel to be more vigorous in pursuing their cases and will lead more potential plaintiffs to file suit."