Bayer has scored a key victory in its defense against Roundup lawsuits as the U.S. Supreme Court has tossed a $1.25 million verdict against the company from a jury in Missouri, which sided with a man who claimed that years of exposure to the herbicide caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
By a 7-2 vote, the justices ruled that users of Roundup can’t sue the company under state laws for its failure to warn about the risk of cancer.
The decision blunts thousands of lawsuits that have been filed in state courts as SCOTUS backed Bayer’s argument—citing U.S. statutes—that that such claims should not apply to weedkillers and pesticides.
With the ruling, Bayer’s share price increased by as much as 19%, it’s largest one-day move in 23 years, said Bloomberg Law.
The company, which has been battling Roundup litigation for many years since its ill-fated $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto in 2016, called the decision “good for science, farmers, and industries that depend on regulatory clarity for innovation,” according to a statement.
“It should help significantly contain the Roundup litigation after nearly a decade of legal battles. The ruling should result in the dismissal of current warning-based claims and bar future failure-to-warn claims,” Bayer said.
The Germany-based conglomerate added that will continue to pursue final approval of a $7.25 billion settlement to resolve the class-action injury claims of those who say long-term use of Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma. While many plaintiffs opted into that class, others did not and chose to try the state-level failure-to-warn legal route.
When Bayer revealed the settlement offer four months ago, it said that there was no admission of liability or wrongdoing and that the initiative was designed “solely to contain the litigation.”
Bayer has repeatedly argued that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Union have concluded that glyphosate-based herbicides can be used safely and are not carcinogenic. Additionally, Bayer pointed out that the EPA approved the labeling for Roundup without a warning.
In December of last year, the Trump administration sided with Bayer as the U.S. Justice Department filed an amicus brief urging SCOTUS to review the Missouri ruling.
“Trump dispatched his DOJ lawyers to help Big Chemical secure blanket immunity from at least 100,000 glyphosate-related liability claims,” Kayla Hancock, the director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project, said in a statement. “Sadly, the Supreme Court agreed to give glyphosate makers a free pass to poison Americans without warning. Donald Trump always has and always will prioritize big money corporate interests that benefit him, even if it means marginalizing the Make America Healthy Again movement.”