$45M Roundup class action settlement approved

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Update:

• A California court has approved a $45 million class action settlement with a group of Roundup buyers and the product’s parent company, Monsanto. 
• The settlement will end claims the company did not declare a cancer risk on its products.
• U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria approved the deal June 21 and said it’s “vital” that consumers know that the deal doesn’t change their right to sue Bayer AG’s Monsanto for any illness or injury caused by Roundup, now or in the future. 
• The deal provides payments to consumers who purchased certain Roundup products
• The settlement establishes a fund of $23 million to $45 million that will reimburse buyers for about 20% of the average price they paid for Roundup products. 

Monsanto Roundup $45 Million Settlement Overview:

• Who: A group of Roundup buyers are calling on a California court to approve an up to $45 million class action settlement with Monsanto.
• Why:  The settlement would end claims Monsanto did not declare a cancer risk on its products, inflating the price of Roundup products
• Where: The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

(Jan. 25, 2022)

A group of Roundup buyers are calling on a California court to approve an up to $45 million class action settlement with the product’s parent company, Monsanto. The settlement would end claims the company did not declare a cancer risk on its products.

The settlement would create a fund of at least $23 million and up to $45 million through which consumers can claim 20 percent of the average retail price of any Roundup product they purchased, the motion sent to U.S. District Court Judge Vince G. Chhabria explains.

“Recognizing that many consumers will not have receipts or will not wish to go through the effort of locating them, proof of purchase will not be required to claim up to one Product for each year of the Class Period, except for the largest and highest-priced concentrated Products, which will require valid proof of purchase,” the settlement states.

According to the motion, millions of consumers could be included in the class.

Consumers Sue Monsanto Over Roundup’s Alleged Cancer Risk

The consumers allege that Monsanto illegally marketed, advertised and sold Roundup without disclosing their risks of cancer and other health effects, and, in turn, say that they paid more for the products than they would have if they’d known the risk. They argue that glyphosate, a key ingredient in Roundup, is carcinogenic.

However, Monsanto denies the groups allegations and told Law360 that it denied any liability as part of the settlement and “has argued that the state-law claims are preempted by federal law.”

“U.S. [Environmental Protection Agency] has repeatedly concluded that glyphosate is not carcinogenic; therefore, a cancer warning label on Monsanto’s glyphosate-based products would be illegal misbranding,” the spokesman said. “The company’s support for the settlement is not due to any safety concerns, as the weight of scientific evidence and the conclusions of all expert regulators worldwide continue to support the safety of glyphosate-based herbicides.”

The settlement only covers false advertising, consumer fraud, breach of warranty and other economic-loss claims arising from the consumers’ purchases; it does not release or resolve any personal-injury claims or medical-monitoring claims.

In the motion, the consumers say that the settlement would equate to two-thirds of their estimate of best-case damages and many times more than Monsanto’s expert’s estimate of damages.

“Given the fact-intensive nature of Plaintiffs’ claims, Monsanto’s and retailers’ success in several Related Actions, and the other risks, costs, and uncertainties of litigating those claims on a classwide basis through trial, the Settlement is an excellent result for the Settlement Class and should be approved,” they write in the lawsuit.

In late 2021, Monsanto was ordered to pay $87 million to a couple who claimed that Roundup gave them both cancer. A California appeals court rejected Monsanto’s request to overturn the award to Alberta and Alva Pilliod, a couple in their 70s who alleged they both got cancer after using Roundup for more than 30 years to kill weeds on their properties. In May 2019, a jury concluded that Roundup was “a substantial factor” in causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the Pilliods.

Were you aware that research had linked glyphosate with certain cancers? Let us know in the comments section below!

The consumers are represented by Gillian L. Wade, Sara D. Avila and Marc A. Castaneda of Milstein Jackson Fairchild & Wade LLP and Joel Oster of the Law Offices of Howard Rubinstein

The Monsanto Roundup Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Gilmore, et al. v. Monsanto, Case No. 3:16-md-02741, and the MDL is in In re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 3:16-md-02741, both in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• RoundPoint Mortgage Harasses Customers, Threatens Illegal Fees, Class Action Alleges
• Monsanto Company Faces Man’s Recent Round Up Lawsuit, Joining Growing Litigation
• Sky Chefs to Pay Workers $420K in Overtime Pay Class Action Settlement
• Do You Qualify: California Labor Law Violations Lawsuit Investigation