National lawyers group objects to Roundup settlement

The president of The National Trial Lawyers and its 14,000 members are opposing the $2 billion settlement plan to resolve claims from future plaintiffs who allege Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.

The group said on Monday in a notice of joinder in opposition filed in federal court in San Francisco that the settlement harms proposed class members and will help the company escape liability.

Plaintiffs' lead counsel Elizabeth J. Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, who helped broker the settlement, said in an emailed response Tuesday, "while the objections filed were expected, we do not believe any of them negate the unique and much needed benefits the class settlement offers, or should prevent the court's decision to direct notice of this important resolution to the class itself."

Ted W. Pelletier, of Kazan McClain Satterley & Greenwood PLC in Oakland, represents the national lawyers' group president, Lisa Blue. He contended, "The proposed settlement seriously endangers access to justice for millions of people in the proposed class, would prevent Monsanto's victims from holding it accountable, and would reward Monsanto in numerous respects." In re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation, 16-MD-2741 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct. 4, 2016).

Pelletier argued the settlement would allow companies to avoid liability and consequences for their actions in future mass tort or personal injury claims by using the approach of Monsanto, the maker of Roundup.

Cabraser said in her email, however, "the proposed Roundup class settlement is an extensive $2 billion agreement to deliver swift, transparent, and fair compensation with free legal services to claimants, in addition to [non-Hodgkin's lymphoma] diagnostic assistance and research into . . . treatment. These unique initiatives are dedicated to saving and extending lives."

Pelletier's motion follows an opposition to the settlement filed Friday by attorneys from Bailey & Glasser LLP on behalf of 93 law firms and 167 attorneys, objecting to the proposed terms, specifically, no punitive damages.

The class counsel will reply to the objections on March 11, and U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California will hear the preliminary approval motion on March 31.