Why the $7.25 Billion Roundup Settlement Is Facing Pushback
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The battle over a proposed $7.25 billion Roundup settlement is heating up. In February, manufacturer Bayer proposed the settlement to resolve claims that the popular weed killer is tied to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Now, the settlement is facing objections from some lawyers and people who have filed lawsuits.
The objectors are pushing to move the settlement and its approval process to federal court. Given the scope and scale of the agreement, it could potentially resolve tens of thousands of current and future cases. It was originally filed in Missouri state court.
“There is no question that there is federal jurisdiction over this case,” the objectors stated in a court filing.
Another big issue at the heart of the settlement discussion is whether it provides adequate compensation to people who say they have been impacted by Roundup. The payouts are set to be tiered into different groups, and may amount to a total payout of $25,000 or less for people who used the weed killer residentially or do not have aggressive forms of cancer.
“This settlement was created to shut down Roundup claims for millions of people, even those who have not gotten sick yet,” said Whitney Ray Di Bona, attorney and consumer safety advocate at Drugwatch. “If the deal goes through, Bayer could keep selling Roundup without warning about cancer, and anyone who develops non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the future would be stuck with whatever compensation the settlement allows.”
Even people who developed aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma may only be eligible for $30,000 or $40,000 if they didn’t use Roundup as part of their job.
“[The settlement] attempts to sweep in all those injured victims (and future victims), forcing them into a deal that extinguishes their claims in exchange for pennies on the dollar,” the objectors argued.
Roundup Lawsuits Await Critical Supreme Court Decision
The fate of the Roundup settlement is not the only major factor impacting the litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court is soon expected to weigh in on the Roundup lawsuits.
The court held oral arguments on the issue last month, where Bayer claimed that the lawsuits should not be able to move forward since the Environmental Protection Agency approved a label for the weed killer without a cancer warning.
This argument has been the centerpiece of Bayer’s plans to resolve the litigation. The company has long claimed that a positive Supreme Court ruling could resolve the lawsuits in its favor.
Some justices, however, reportedly appeared skeptical of the company’s arguments during the hearing. A final decision from the court is expected within the next month.