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Some Bayer’s Roundup trials to be moved to Nebraska, other states
Jun. 26, 2019
Nebraska is likely to be one of the first states outside of California to hold trials over whether the weed killer Roundup is responsible for causing cancer.
A federal judge in California has granted a request by Bayer AG to move trials out of California after the company lost three cases in the state.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of San Francisco oversaw the first federal trial over Roundup, in which a jury awarded more than $80 million to a California man in March.
California juries subsequently awarded $289 million to another man and $2 billion to a husband and wife.
All had alleged that exposure to the weed killer caused them to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Roundup, which was developed by Monsanto, is the most widely used herbicide in the world. Though the Environmental Protection Agency says it can be used safely, the World Health Organization in 2015 classified the product’s active ingredient, glyphosate, as a probable cause of cancer in humans.
Lawyers for cancer victims have since filed more than 13,000 lawsuits against Monsanto and Bayer AG, which bought the company last year.
The first cases wound up being tried in California as part of a multi district litigation agreement, which allows complex litigation to be consolidated in one court to streamline the process.
After its three large losses, Bayer requested that the next round of cases be tried elsewhere, and it selected Nebraska, where there are five cases. Plaintiffs selected California, meaning 17 of the cases will be tried there.
For a second round of trials, Bayer selected North Carolina, while the plaintiffs chose Illinois.
Bayer complained to Chhabria that it was at a disadvantage because of California’s plaintiff-friendly laws and what it said was “highly prejudicial coverage” of the cases by news media. Chhabria, who is overseeing the multi-district litigation, ruled last week that some cases could be moved.
By moving cases to Nebraska and other states, it will, "increase the diversity of data points in this national litigation, which will benefit all parties," Bayer said in a statement.
David Domina, an Omaha attorney representing four Nebraska plaintiffs, said he suspects Bayer picked the state because of its lack of punitive damages.
Despite that, Domina said he is "thrilled" to have the cases back in Nebraska courts, where he originally filed them.
Domina represents three farmers and an agronomist, one of whom is his brother. Larry Domina is one of two plaintiffs from Cedar County. The other is Robert Dickey, a former state senator and chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board.
The other plaintiffs are York County farmer Royce Janzen and Dodge County agronomist Frank Pollard.
Domina said pre-trial and other filings will likely take 120 days or more, meaning it would probably be December before any of the trials would start.
Though he originally filed the cases in U.S. District Court in Lincoln, Domina said he expects three of the cases and possibly all four to be tried in federal court in Omaha.
Source: Lincoln Journal Star
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