Trials against Monsanto will continue in California, judge orders in loss for defense

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge refused to side with Monsanto Tuesday after the Bayer-AG owned company argued to avoid in-state trials during the next phase of litigation over allegations its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabriaof San Francisco prioritized California and Nebraska in the "first wave" of cases that will be sent back to their home courts.

The second phase will feature lawsuits out of North Carolina and another state plaintiffs' attorneys will get to choose.

"I appreciate Monsanto's continued opposition to it, but California will be in the first wave of cases that are remanded," the judge said. "I'm happy to include Nebraska in that."

Chhabria allowed the defense to choose a state to try a Roundup case at a May 22 hearing to "give Monsanto a chance." It proposed Nebraska and North Carolina but adamantly opposed California plaintiffs who would also go to trial in the near future.

The defense argued it needs to try cases in other states, so it can properly "value and evaluate the litigation." It proposed a "first-in, first-out" approach in which groups of 50 cases are sent back to their home districts in the order they were filed.

The judge was sympathetic to the company's concerns, responding that he "understands what you're saying about diversity of verdicts and the diversity of states." But he said he did not want a situation in which the court is "adjudicating a bunch of cases" from different states because it would get too "unwieldy."

More than 13,400 plaintiffs across the country have alleged exposure to Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In re: Roundup Liability Litigation, 16-MD02741 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct. 4, 2016).

Monsanto has indicated it will continue to take cases to trial and has maintained the science is firmly on its side that Roundup does not cause cancer in humans. Plaintiffs' attorneys have indicated they want to try their cases.

Three California juries have hit Monsanto with more than $2 billion in damages during the past year. Bayer's stock has plummeted by 47% since acquiring the company a year ago.

By including North Carolina in the second wave of cases that will be sent back to their home courts, lawsuits out of Missouri federal court will take longer to go to trial. Part of Chhabria's reasoning to remand cases out of the Eastern District of Missouri later in the litigation is because several of them have multiple plaintiffs, and he has yet to order the severance of multi-plaintiff lawsuits.

"It seems to me that it's automatic that, unless plaintiffs are able to identify a particular situation where more than one plaintiff should be joined consistent with the federal rules, the assumption is that all cases should be severed, and I should order new complaints to be filed by a certain date," the judge said.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Winifred Y. Smith also severed multi-plaintiff lawsuits in the coordinated proceedings against Monsanto in state court.

The next test case before Chhabria in San Francisco federal court is scheduled to start Feb. 10, 2020 in a lawsuit brought by Elaine Stevick. Another trial in St. Louis County Circuit Court starts Aug. 19.