With the billion dollar purchase of the US seed giant Monsanto, the Leverkusen-based company has brought expensive legal disputes into the house. Now there are positive signals from US judges for the Dax group.
In the glyphosate dispute, the chemical company Bayer can hope that the US Supreme Court will accept a landmark case for review.
According to a court document published on Monday, the US Supreme Court wants to seek the opinion of the US government on the case. This shows that the judges think the case is interesting. Should they accept him for trial, their judgment would have a signal effect. From a possible victory, the Leverkusen-based company hope to be able to basically end the disputes over alleged cancer risks of weed killers containing glyphosate.
Bayer shares rose on the news. Some investors feared that the judges would reject the case outright. Specifically, it is about the case of the plaintiff Edwin Hardeman, who blames glyphosate for his cancer and who was ultimately awarded a total of a good 25 million dollars in damages.
Conflict with federal law?
In the application to the Supreme Court, Bayer argued with what is known as federal preemption. As a result, the Group believes that claims for damages for allegedly incorrect cancer risk warnings cannot exist under national law if they conflict with federal law. Because the responsible federal authority had banned such a warning. In addition, the Dax group is of the opinion that the approval of experts as witnesses for the plaintiff’s side did not meet the federal standards.
In the Supreme Court decision on Monday, the so-called Solicitor General is now invited to present the US government’s opinion on the case. The Solicitor General holds one of the top positions in the US Department of Justice. He is something like the top lawyer in the United States and represents the government, among other things, before the US Supreme Court. Bayer announced after the decision to see itself strengthened in its own position.
Decision on approval by the middle of the year
If everything goes according to the usual schedules, the judges should now decide by the end of June whether to allow the case. Despite the positive signals for Bayer from the judges, who show interest, the game is now going on.
Bayer had brought the expensive legal disputes around Roundup 2018 with the over 60 billion dollar purchase of the US seed giant Monsanto. After a first court failure in the summer of 2018, the number of plaintiffs had risen rapidly. The Bayer share price has roughly halved since then.
In 2020, Bayer put together a settlement package with lawyers on the other side. The group had set aside around eleven billion dollars for this in 2020, for current and future cases. Many lawsuits have now also been settled.
«Glyphosate safe when used properly»
In its most recent annual report for the third quarter of 2021, Bayer wrote: “Of the approximately 125,000 cases mentioned in the annual report, around 98,000 cases are involved, including those that do not meet the comparison criteria.” The figures relate to October 22nd. Bayer continues to emphasize the safety of glyphosate when used properly.
However, Bayer recently only entered into settlement talks in specific cases in isolated cases. The group wanted to wait for the decision of the Supreme Court first. Bayer is now becoming even more restrictive: “Since the court has now requested the US government’s opinion, we will completely forego settlement negotiations with those plaintiff’s attorneys who represent a significant number of claims,” Bayer said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
Until recently, however, it was unclear how to deal with future cases, i.e. of people who have not yet developed cancer, but who will later blame glyphosate for their disease. The reason: the responsible judge at a federal court was not satisfied with the agreements between Bayer and the lawyers on the other side. Ultimately, in the spring of 2021, the Bayer management team headed by CEO Werner Baumann decided to take a different approach to dealing with future cases. Part of the plan is the Supreme Court review of the Hardeman case.
In the event that the Supreme Court does not want to deal with the glyphosate case or ultimately decides against Bayer, the group had set up provisions of 4.5 billion US dollars in the summer. The money would then be used to set up a program to deal with the demands of new plaintiffs for the next 15 years.
Source From: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
