Monsanto Ordered to Pay $2 Billion in Case Tying Weed Killer to Cancer

(SAN FRANCISCO) — A jury on Monday ordered agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. to pay a combined $2.055 billion to a couple claiming that the company’s popular weed killer Roundup Ready caused their cancers. The jury’s verdict is the third such courtroom loss for Monsanto in California since August, but a San Francisco law professor said it’s likely a trial judge or appellate court will significantly reduce the punitive damage award. The state court jury in Oakland concluded that Monsanto’s weed killer caused the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma Alva Pilliod and Alberta Pilliod each contracted. Jurors awarded them each $1 billion in punitive damages in addition to a combined $55 million in compensatory damages. Alberta Pilliod, 76, said after the verdict that she and her husband, Alva, have each been battling cancer for the last nine years. She says they are unable to enjoy the same activities they participated in before their cancer diagnosis. “It changed our lives forever,” she said. “We couldn’t do things we used to be able to do, and we really resent them for that.” One of the Pilliods lawyers, Michael Miller, conceded that the $2 billion punitive damage award was likely to be reduced on appeal, but said they are prepared for a long legal battle. A federal jury in San Francisco ordered the weed killer maker in March to pay a Sonoma County man $80 million. A San Francisco jury last August awarded $289 million to a former...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Business onetime overnight Source Type: news