(Frankfurt) Bayer suffered a legal setback in the United States over glyphosate, as the Supreme Court’s general counsel gave an unfavorable opinion in a dispute against agrochismiste, leading to a sharp decline in the title on Wednesday.
Posted yesterday at 12:17 PM.
The headline ended the session in Frankfurt down 6.22% to €58.04 in the DAX, gaining 2.17%, and investors were nervous about a court decision following this opinion that could open the way to multi-billion-euro damage claims.
The case in question dates back to May 2021, when a San Francisco appeals court upheld an order against Bayer to pay $25 million in damages to retired Edwin Hardman, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2015.
He accuses the herbicide of causing his cancer, and accuses Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer in 2018, of failing to warn customers on the product label.
Baer then lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court of the United States. But in her opinion submitted Tuesday to the highest US court, General Counsel Elizabeth Prilugar, who represents the government, asserted that “the asylum application should be denied.”
His opinion represents a change of tone for the administration from the Trump presidency, when the Justice Department sided with Bayer at the time of the call.
“The United States has reconsidered the arguments due to the court’s decision and the change in administration,” the general counsel explains.
Bayer said in a press release that she “remains convinced that there are good legal arguments for the court to consider” Edwin Hardman’s case and “correct the judgment.”
“Regardless of the decision, we are ready to end litigation over Roundup,” notes Bayer, which committed $4.5 billion in July 2021 in the event an unfavorable decision is made.
The group objects to the appeals court ruling in particular because it is based on California law where the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that use of Roundup does not merit any cancer warning.
But that does not excuse respect for a “state-wide law requiring such a warning,” the General Counsel estimated on his part.
The main active ingredient in a news report is glyphosate, which is classified as a “probable carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) – a description the German group disputes.