Bayer AG has asked a California appeals court to overturn an $86 million verdict that found it was responsible for a couple’s cancer caused by its glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup.
The May verdict by a California jury drew nationwide attention for its massive damages, with the jury awarding more than $2 billion to Alberta and Alva Pilliod, who sprayed Roundup on their property for more than three decades to destroy weeds.Bayer in a statement on Monday said U.S. regulators had consistently found glyphosate to be non-carcinogenic and that the Pilliods’ lawyer during trial repeatedly violated court orders in an attempt to inflame jurors.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees the regulation of herbicides, in January reaffirmed the safety of glyphosate.Bayer, which acquired Roundup manufacturer Monsanto in a $63-billion deal in 2018, to date has faced three juries over claims that Roundup causes cancer. It lost all three trials, resulting in a shareholder revolt and a roughly 20% drop of its stock price since the first verdict in August 2018.