Bayer Agrees With Decision to Pull Part of Roundup Settlement

By Micah Maidenberg 

Bayer AG said it agrees with a move from attorneys representing plaintiffs who sued over the safety of its Roundup weedkiller to withdraw a motion seeking court approval for a plan covering how future claims related to the product would be resolved.

That motion is part of a $10.9 billion settlement the German pharmaceutical and agriculture conglomerate reached in June to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits with U.S. plaintiffs who have alleged the Roundup herbicide causes cancer.

A spokesman for Bayer confirmed the company agreed with attorneys for the plaintiffs to pull back on the motion. Bayer has said it would set aside $1.25 billion to work toward resolving future claims, which would be guided by conclusions from a court-approved panel of scientists who studied Roundup's potential carcinogenicity.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said he was skeptical of Bayer's plan to capture all future claims tied to Roundup, and would likely reject it.

"Bayer remains strongly committed to a resolution that simultaneously addresses both the current litigation on reasonable terms and a viable solution to manage and resolve potential future litigation," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 08, 2020 11:47 ET (15:47 GMT)

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