Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund et al v. Bayer et al

Reference :

3:20-cv-04737-RS

Complaint date :

July 15, 2020

Status :

Provisional judgment

Place of jurisdiction :

United States

Plaintiffs types :

Economic stakeholders

Plaintiffs names :

Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund, City of Grand Rapids General Retirement System, City of Grand Rapids Police & Fire Retirement System

Defendants :

Bayer

Lawyers for Health and Environmental Justice :

No description

Case nature :

Civil court

Specificities :

Class action

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

Herbicide, Glyphosate, Roundup

Requests :

Plaintiffs sue Bayer for three categories of misstatements in the buy-out of Monsanto: statements about the company’s due diligence when acquiring Monsanto; statements about the safety of a particular chemical ingredient used in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup; and certain legal risks associated with the herbicide, which various product liability lawsuits later claimed was carcinogenic.

Name of the Court :

United States District Court for the Northern District of California, United States

Jurisdiction level :

Decision date :

October 19, 2021

Decision nature :

Partially Positive

Decision content :

Defendants’ motion to dismiss is denied.

Legal basis :

Court Ruling :

Link to the ruling

Summary :

Bayer shareholders have filed a lawsuit against the company, which they accuse of not informing them about the risks associated with glyphosate when it acquired Monsanto in 2018, and are seeking damages. They consider three categories of misstatements in the buy-out of Monsanto: statements about the company’s due diligence when acquiring Monsanto; statements about the safety of a particular chemical ingredient used in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup; and certain legal risks associated with the herbicide, which various product liability lawsuits later claimed was carcinogenic. On March, 22, 2021 defendants move to dismiss for failure to plead falsity, scienter, and loss causation. On October 19, 2021, The Court held that plaintiffs adequately alleged actionable misrepresentations and scienter with respect to some of the challenged statements, and further held that plaintiffs adequately alleged loss causation for those statements. Defendants’ motion is denied.

Scientific references :

No scientifice reference for this case.