ST. LOUIS, MO – Bayer-owned Monsanto won a unanimous Roundup verdict in St. Louis Thursday, providing the first major test of remaining liability theories following a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Three plaintiffs alleged Roundup caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma and pursued design-defect, fraud and negligence claims after the Supreme Court largely blocked state failure-to-warn claims involving EPA-approved labeling. The jury rejected all three theories.
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in June that federal pesticide law preempts state warning claims when EPA has made a definitive product-safety determination. Bayer says Thursday’s verdict shows plaintiffs may face greater difficulty pursuing alternative legal theories.
Bayer still faces roughly 65,000 U.S. Roundup claims and is awaiting a Missouri judge’s decision on a proposed $7.25 billion settlement covering many existing cases.
For agriculture, the case matters because glyphosate remains a widely used weed-control tool and continued litigation has created long-term uncertainty around product liability and availability.
Farm-Level Takeaway: The St. Louis verdict strengthens Bayer’s legal position while reducing some uncertainty surrounding a widely used agricultural herbicide.