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Roundup weed killer in a hardware store in San Francisco (2019): Bayer has to tremble over comparison
Photo: Haven Daley / dpa
The hope of the chemical company Bayer for a quick solution in relation to US proceedings over alleged cancer risks of the glyphosate weed killer Roundup has diminished.
The first draft of the settlement failed due to the concerns of the US judge Vince Chhabria.
Now he has also made his skepticism clear about an improved version - even before an important court hearing this Wednesday.
Specifically, it is about a draft settlement on how to deal with future glyphosate lawsuits in the USA. The compromise is part of a settlement with plaintiffs that, while costing Bayer more than $ 11 billion in total, would end the significant legal uncertainty surrounding glyphosate.
This solution had actually already been agreed in June of last year, but with the proviso that US Judge Chhabria must agree to it. The questioned the legality of the planned handling of future lawsuits. The parties to the dispute had to revise this important piece of the puzzle from the large settlement package and submit it again to the judge for approval. At the hearing, the larger framework of the new deal between Bayer and the plaintiffs is now to be defined. Chhabria already described the agreement as very complicated.
The Leverkusen-based pharmaceutical and agrochemical group negotiated the legal conflicts over glyphosate with the billion-dollar takeover of the US seed giant Monsanto in 2018. Bayer hopes Chhabria will enable the settlement quickly to close the numerous glyphosate lawsuits in the United States. Numerous national proceedings are bundled at the court of the federal judge in San Francisco. That is why the decision has great implications.
But Tuesday's court documents show that Chhabria is also very critical of the new solution. The judge continues to doubt that the deal is in the best interests of the plaintiffs. In particular, Bayer's plan to set up an independent scientific committee to deal with future glyphosate lawsuits continues to cause the judge to be skeptical. Chhabria again raised the question of why this should be in the interests of the plaintiffs. All previous glyphosate processes in the USA - without such a body - worked out in their favor. Most recently, a court in San Francisco awarded a cancer patient $ 25 million in damages.
So that Bayer can finally tick off the legal problems taken over from Monsanto in the USA, Chhabria would first have to give his preliminary approval to the settlement as a first step.
But even if the judge heard convincing arguments on Wednesday, this would still require some patience.
Because in view of the complicated situation, the details of the solution shouldn't be discussed at all for the time being.
Chhabria has already announced that he is planning another hearing to discuss "the many smaller issues."
fdi / dpa
