Roundup Settlement in Jeopardy

In May of 2020, speculation began that the multi-district litigation (MDL) regarding the German chemical giant, Bayer, and its weed killing product, Roundup, was close to settling. Hundreds of thousands of claims have been made claiming the product causes serious long-term health conditions, most notably, leukemia, B-cell lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma or multiple myeloma.

In late June, that speculation seemed to be well supported, as Bayer disclosed its intent to settle tens of thousands of cases for a sum of $10 billion, while continuing to sell the product with new warning label. As a result, the Judge presiding over the matter, the Honorable Vince Chhabria, paused the massive litigation until November, allowing the parties to work out the particulars of the complex agreement.

Now, last Thursday, August 27th, Bayer announced that the majority of the settlements it had previously declared resolved, were in-fact in jeopardy of falling apart. Where Bayer had told the court that 75% of the 125,000 Roundup claims were resolved, only 32,000 cases were actually resolved—12,000 of which were in state courts, rather than the federal MDL over which Judge Chhabria presides.

Judge Chhabria expressed concern over the development and made clear that he would have never issued the stay if the possibility of such a collapse were evident. Although this development could mean the entire MDL will continue to its conclusion at trial, in a statement issued after the status conference, Bayer said:

“We remain fully committed to resolving both the current Roundup litigation and potential future claims on a simultaneous path. A mass tort settlement of this size and complexity can take significant time before it is fully executed, and we are still early in this process. There are often some bumps in the road in implementing a resolution of this magnitude, but we remain confident that a comprehensive settlement will be finalized and executed. Indeed, while we support the court’s dual track approach over the next 30 days, we are optimistic that the finalization of the settlements over this time will make any further steps on the litigation track unnecessary.”

The dangerous product attorneys at Neumann Law Group are still accepting new Roundup claims. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with leukemia, B-cell lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma or multiple myeloma after having worked with Roundup weedkiller, contact our attorneys for a free consultation and evaluation of your claim.