A Pennsylvania judge drastically reduced a $2.25 billion verdict against Bayer to $400 million on June 4, 2024. The first decision resulted from a jury's conclusion that John McKivison's continuous use of Bayer's Roundup weedkiller caused him to acquire non-Hodgkins lymphoma. At first, McKivison was given $2 billion in punitive damages and $250 million in compensatory damages. However, these figures changed, bringing the punitive damages and the compensatory damages down to $350 million and $50 million respectively. Bayer intends to appeal despite this decrease, claiming that the trial was tainted by serious mistakes and featured deceptive and "inflammatory" testimony.
Although McKivison's lawyers are happy that the jury upheld the conclusion that Roundup causes cancer, they still plan to file an appeal to get the $2.25 billion award reinstated. Bayer, which phased out Roundup sales for home use in 2024, maintains that extensive studies demonstrate the safety of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. This case is part of a broader litigation landscape for Bayer, which acquired Roundup as part of its $63 billion purchase of Monsanto in 2018. Bayer has faced over 165,000 claims in the U.S. related to Roundup, with ongoing legal battles, despite a $9.6 billion settlement for pending cases in 2020.
