A new Roundup lymphoma lawsuit claims Monsanto actively concealed the weed killer’s life-threatening health risks and withheld warnings to protect its bottom line at the cost of human life.
Dwight Alexy filed the complaint late this past week in the Eastern District of Missouri. His Roundup lymphoma lawsuit joins thousands of other similar claims pending in federal and state courts across the nation, attempting to hold Monsanto accountable for its blatant disregard for the safety of its consumers.
Alexy says he used the popular glyphosate-based herbicide regularly since 1997, causing him to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). According to his Roundup lymphoma lawsuit, Monsanto knew about the weed killer’s significant cancer risks and withheld this information from regulators and the public for decades. The agrochemical behemoth even went so far as to aggressively market Roundup as exceptionally safe.
“Defendant’s statements proclaiming the safety of Roundup and disregarding its dangers misled Plaintiff,” the claim states. “Despite Defendant’s knowledge that Roundup was associated with an elevated risk of developing cancer, Defendant’s promotional campaigns focused on Roundup’s purported ‘safety profile’.”
Consequently, Monsanto deprived Alexy of the ability to take proper precautions in handling the chemical, putting his life, and countless others, in significant danger to line its considerable coffers.
Flickr/Rob Kall
Roundup Lymphoma Lawsuit Litigation
Alexy’s Roundup lymphoma lawsuit brings strikingly similar allegations as more than 10,000 other Roundup claims pending nationwide. The plaintiffs overwhelmingly assert that Monsanto knew Roundup was patently dangerous and unsafe. However, the company actively hid this information from consumers and federal regulators to protect sales.
Due to the commonalities of fact and questions of law in the allegations, the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) has scheduled a series of bellwether trials to start going before juries this year. These test trials will help the litigation parties gauge how juries are likely to react to certain evidence and testimony that recurs throughout the litigation.
In August 2018, the first Roundup trial in the U.S. ended in a $78 million verdict for a former California groundskeeper. The California courts granted him an early trial date, because he is currently dying from NHL from Roundup exposure.
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) centralized all federal claim in the ongoing MDL before District Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California. The MDL has set the bellwether process to proceed later this month. Furthermore, there are more than a dozen more claims going to trial in Missouri and California state courts in 2019.
The outcomes of the bellwether trials do not directly impact Alexy’s and other plaintiffs’ claims. However, if Monsanto fails to negotiate Roundup settlements or reach other arrangements to resolve the litigation, the company undoubtedly will face thousands of plaintiffs in individual trials in the coming years.
