Anderson, Draeger and Gunther v. Monsanto

Reference :

22AC-CC00968 ; 22AC-CC00137 ; 22AC-CC00965

Complaint date :

No description

Status :

Final judgment

Place of jurisdiction :

United States, Jefferson City, Cole county, Missouri

Plaintiffs types :

Individuals

Plaintiffs names :

Jimmy & Branda Draeger, Valorie Gunther, Dan Anderson

Defendants :

Monsanto, Bayer

Lawyers for Health and Environmental Justice :

Bart Rankin, Jay Utley, Joanna Raines McKinney, and Joshua Richardson of Forrest Weldon, Matthew A. Clement of Clement Van Ronzelen & Schulte LLC, and McAlan Duncan and Matthew Stubbs of Duncan Stubbs PLLC.

Case nature :

Civil court

Type(s), Product(s), Active substance(s) :

Glyphosate, Roundup, Herbicide

Requests :

Seeks to hold Monsanto liable for design defect, strict liability for failure to warn, negligence, breach of express warranties and breach of implied warranties, as well as fraud and misrepresentation; order the company to compensate for damages suffered by the three Roundup users.

Name of the Court :

Circuit Court of Jefferson City, Cole county, Missouri , United States

Jurisdiction level :

First instance

Decision date :

November 17, 2023

Decision nature :

Positive

Decision content :

Monsanto-Bayer ordered to pay a total of $1.5 billion.

Legal basis :

Court Ruling :

Link to the ruling

Summary :

In three verdicts handed down on November 17, 2023, the jury in the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, found the American company Monsanto liable for design defect, failure to warn and negligence in its marketing of glyphosate-based Roundup products.

Each of the plaintiffs, whose actions were consolidated into a single lawsuit, used and sprayed Roundup in their gardens for several years, and subsequently developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. According to the plaintiffs, Monsanto, acquired in 2018 by Bayer, knew that the key ingredients in Roundup, particularly glyphosate, were known carcinogens.

The jury ordered Bayer to pay a total of $1.56 billion to the four plaintiffs. Each will receive $500 million in punitive damages. As for compensatory damages, for the actual harm suffered :
- Jimmy Draeger will receive $5.6 million and his wife Brenda $100,000 for the damages she suffered as a result of the injuries inflicted on her husband.
- Valorie Gunther will receive $17.5 million;
- Daniel Anderson will receive $38 million.

This decision marks the fourth consecutive victory for Roundup victims.

Bayer has declared its intention to appeal the decision. According to the company, the size of the damages awarded is in violation of the US Constitution and that the plaintiffs have misrepresented the scientific facts.

Note, as a 2019 scientific study points out, people using glyphosate-based herbicides like Roundup run a more than 40% higher risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Scientific references :

No scientifice reference for this case.