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26 ¦ AUGUST 31, 2020 NEWS

$10 Billion in Roundup Settlements May Be
Unraveling; More Trials Possible

By Amanda Bronstad

Two months after Bayer agreed to resolve thou-
sands of lawsuits brought over Monsanto’s
Roundup for as much as $10.9 billion, and as
new lawsuits crop up, including in Connecticut, law-
yers told a federal judge Thursday that most of the
agreements are now uncertain.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the North-
ern District of California, who oversees the Roundup
multidistrict litigation, scheduled the hearing, held
via Zoom, after receiving numerous confidential let-
ters from plaintiffs attorneys insisting that Bayer had
reneged on their agreements.
Roundup weedkiller on store shelves. Photo: Diego M.

“The upshot of those letters is that counsel is ex- Radzinschi/ALM

pressing concern that Monsanto is maybe welshing has actually changed hands but insisted Bayer’s an-
on its deal with them,” he said at the hearing, adding nouncement was accurate at the time.
that “maybe there was no deal in the first place.” “Frankly, your honor, it has become more com-
Chhabria, who had imposed a 90-day stay on plicated,” he said of the settlements. “There are no
the Roundup litigation to give time to work out the shenanigans and no manipulations going on here.”
settlement details, appeared concerned that Bayer In a statement, Bayer insisted that the settlement
misled the court when it announced, on June 24, talks would continue.
that it had resolved 75% of the 125,000 Roundup “We remain fully committed to resolving both the
claims. Given the status of settlements, Chhabria current Roundup litigation and potential future claims
said, he was inclined to lift a stay on litigation, which on a simultaneous path,” the company’s statement
some plaintiffs attorneys had requested in their let- read. “A mass tort settlement of this size and complex-
ters, and set more Roundup cases for trial, possibly ity can take significant time before it is fully executed,
on Zoom. But, instead, he gave lawyers until Sept. and we are still early in this process. There are often
24 to work on the settlements or come up with an some bumps in the road in implementing a resolution
alternative plan going forward. of this magnitude, but we remain confident that a com-
“What I am concerned about is that Monsanto prehensive settlement will be finalized and executed.
may be manipulating this litigation process to its Indeed, while we support the court’s dual track ap-
advantage somehow,” he said. “My only concern is proach over the next 30 days, we are optimistic that the
that I don’t want the litigation to be used as a pawn finalization of the settlements over this time will make
in settlement negotiations, either way. I don’t want any further steps on the litigation track unnecessary.”
them to manipulate, or take advantage, and use to At the hearing, Kenneth Feinberg, whom Chhab-
their advantage a stay in the litigation, and I don’t ria had appointed as special master, said fewer than
want lifting of the stay to prompt settlement.” 32,000 cases actually had resolved, about 12,000
Monsanto attorney William Hoffman, of Ar- of which were in state courts, not the MDL before
nold & Porter Kaye Scholer in Washington, D.C., Chhabria. Those cases, which he referred to as
acknowledged that no “substantial part” of money “Bucket A,” were “officially documented and settled.”

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