A Missouri judge postponed to Sept. 14 the final approval hearing for Bayer's $7.25 billion proposed settlement of Roundup cancer claims, previously set for Aug. 19. The delay gives the parties more time to process plaintiff requests to revoke opt-outs and challenges to opt-out validity following a US Supreme Court ruling in Bayer's favor.
A Missouri judge postponed to Sept. 14 the approval hearing for Bayer's $7.25 billion Roundup settlement, the company said Thursday.
The delay will give the parties more time to process requests from plaintiffs to revoke their decisions to opt out of the settlement, as well as challenges to opt-out validity, Bayer said. The company said it is confident the settlement is "fair to all parties and warrants final approval."
The hearing had been scheduled for Aug. 19. Bayer's Monsanto unit and supporting plaintiffs' lawyers filed a joint motion with the St. Louis city circuit court earlier this week to reschedule. The case is King v. Monsanto, City of St. Louis Circuit Court, No. 2622-CC00325.
Bayer faces about 65,000 claims in US state and federal courts from plaintiffs who say they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other cancers after using Roundup at home or on the job. The settlement, announced in February, aims to resolve most current and future Roundup claims in the US.
Some plaintiffs who had opted out sought to rejoin the deal after the US Supreme Court on June 26 sided with Bayer, undercutting a central legal claim in the Roundup cases. The ruling established that federal labeling requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency preempt state-law claims alleging missing cancer warnings on Roundup packaging.
The settlement allows Bayer and lead class counsel to vet and potentially deny opt-outs, a process objecting plaintiffs' lawyers have called "draconian" and designed to trap people who wish to pursue their lawsuits in court. If more than 650 class members opt out, Bayer can deduct what it would have paid them from the settlement fund, up to $400 million.
Bayer, which acquired Roundup when it purchased Monsanto in 2018, has said decades of studies show the weedkiller's key ingredient, glyphosate, is safe and does not cause cancer.
The postponement is a procedural step in a settlement that, if approved, would remove a major legal overhang for Bayer. The company's shares traded at EUR 48.94 on Thursday, up 32 percent this year, after second-quarter revenue rose 2.2 percent to EUR 10.872 billion and management tightened its net financial debt guidance to EUR 29 billion to EUR 30 billion. Goldman Sachs, UBS and DZ Bank all raised their price targets on the stock this week, citing progress on US legal risks and debt reduction. Investors will watch the Sept. 14 hearing for final approval.
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