DOVER, Del. – The latest lawsuit alleging that exposure to the popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer resulted in a mistrial, according to a Delaware judge. After three days of deliberations, the jurors sent a note expressing their inability to reach a unanimous verdict. Despite Superior Court Judge Vivian Medinilla’s order to continue discussions, the jury remained deadlocked.
The lawsuit was filed by the family of Anthony Cloud, a South Carolina man who worked as a landscaper for over a decade. In 2018, Cloud was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and he passed away in October 2021, just six weeks after the lawsuit was initially filed. His family sought $142 million in punitive damages. The trial began in Wilmington in early February.
Since acquiring Roundup’s manufacturer, Monsanto, in 2018, German chemical company Bayer AG has faced tens of thousands of lawsuits. In a similar case, a Philadelphia jury ordered Bayer to pay a staggering $2.3 billion to a man diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Roundup for two decades. This verdict marked the largest in a series of lawsuits over the weedkiller, including a previous $1.5 billion judgment from a Missouri jury and a $2 billion award from a California jury.
In 2020, Bayer set aside over $10 billion to settle approximately 125,000 Roundup lawsuits. However, thousands more lawsuits remain pending. After experiencing nine consecutive wins in trials that began in 2021, the company faced legal setbacks as juries started issuing nine- and ten-figure awards to plaintiffs. A judge ultimately reduced a $332 million jury award to $28 million in a California Roundup lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in the Delaware case, like others, argued that Monsanto poorly designed Roundup and failed to adequately warn users of its health risks. In a separate development, Bayer agreed to pay nearly $7 million in June to settle allegations from New York’s attorney general that Monsanto made false and misleading statements about Roundup’s safety.
Additionally, a federal appeals court in 2022 directed the Environmental Protection Agency to re-examine its 2020 finding regarding the health risks of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup.
As the legal battles over Roundup continue, uncertainties persist over the safety of this popular weedkiller and the liabilities faced by its manufacturer.