Supreme Court Will Soon Decide Whether to Hear Roundup Case

The U.S. Supreme Court could announce soon on whether it will hear Bayer’s bid to dismiss claims its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer as the company seeks to avoid potentially billions of dollars more in damages and payouts.

Bayer is seeking review of an appeals court decision that upheld $25 million in damages awarded to California resident Edwin Hardeman, a user of glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup, who blamed his cancer on the product.

How the court acts will help determine whether thousands of similar cases go forward.

Reuters reports that the nine justices at their recent private conference were scheduled to discuss whether to hear the case, according to the court docket.

Bayer has asked the Supreme Court to find that federal approval of Roundup’s product label by the Environmental Protection Agency meant that the suit could not be brought forward under California’s state law.

The court’s decision will come after the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden urged the justices last month to reject the petition, reversing the position taken by the administration of Republican former President Donald Trump, which had largely backed Bayer.

The company’s shares dropped more than 6% that day but have since recovered even as Bayer braces for up to $4.5 billion in additional litigation costs from the other claims if snubbed by the court.

It set money aside accordingly last year having already paid out a big portion of the $11.6 billion previously allocated for settlements and litigation over the matter.

The Supreme Court does not have to follow the U.S. administration’s advice but usually does, with the federal government’s top Supreme Court lawyer, the solicitor general, dubbed the “tenth justice” for that reason.

Source: USAgNet