Roundup Class Action Says Concentrate Herbicides are Falsely Advertised

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The Monsanto Company faces a class action lawsuit alleging it misrepresents and falsely advertises the diluted power of its Roundup Concentrate herbicide products.

According to the class action lawsuit filed by plaintiff Joshua Rawa of Missouri, the Roundup Concentrate products are “only capable of making half the number of gallons represented when diluted to the strength required for the uses advertised on the label of each product.”

Monsanto is one of the world’s leading companies in manufacturing, marketing, and selling herbicides to control weeds since it first introduced Roundup in the mid-1970s to the “agricultural community.”

The Roundup class action lawsuit states that consumers were first introduced to the herbicide for residential use in the 1980s. Monsanto sells several different kinds of Roundup Concentrate herbicides, such as Roundup Weed & Grass Killer Concentrate Plus and Roundup Weed & Grass Killer Super Concentrate. The company specifies that its concentrated herbicides should be diluted before use.

As mentioned in the lawsuit, Roundup Concentrates are advertised to make “a certain number of gallons, and as effective at addressing specific applications.” However, a 32 ounce size of Roundup Concentrate Plus, advertised that it makes 10 gallons of Roundup, only makes 5.5 gallons, the class action states.

The complaint addresses that this is “true of all sizes and variations of the Roundup Concentrates.” It contends that, “each makes only between approximately 50% (for Roundup Concentrate plus) or 60% (for Roundup Super Concentrate) of the amount promised.”

Rawa says he first purchased Roundup Ready- to-Use in 2015 for the cracks in his driveway and other areas around his residence. When he ran out of the product, Rawa says he decided to buy a Roundup Super Concentrate bottle, after noting that it provided a better value since it specifically promised 23 gallons of the product.

Once home, the plaintiff claims he “followed the mixing instructions that were on the graphic page of the pamphlet taped shut on the back of the bottle.” However, as Rawa continued to use the Roundup Super Concentrate, he says he noticed that the product was not as effective at killing “all unwanted weeds and grass.”

The Roundup class action lawsuit claims Rawa understood that since he had purchased a product that was more affordable than the Ready-to-Use bottle, that it had a “better dollar-per-gallon value.” However, the product did not produce or yield the number of gallons it stated it would and it did not kill all the unwanted grass and weeds, Rawa states.

“The Roundup Super Concentrate was effectively under-filled, such that plaintiff received a different and substantially lesser value- one with a higher cost- than Monsanto represented,” the lawsuit alleges.

Furthermore, the plaintiffs’ expectations were not met and the plaintiff did not “realize the benefit of his bargain.”

Rawa seeks to represent “a Class of all persons who, on or after April 5, 2012 (the ‘Class Period’), purchased in the United States, other than in California, for personal or household use and not for resale or distribution, Roundup Weed & Grass Killer Concentrate Plus, or Roundup Weed & Grass Killer Super Concentrate, in packaging whose label stated that the product ‘makes up to’ a specified number of gallons.”

The plaintiff is represented by Thomas A. Canova and Jack Fitzgerald of The Law Office of Jack Fitzgerald PC; Sidney W. Jackson, III of the Jackson & Foster LC; and Kevin J. Dolley of the Law Offices of Kevin J. Dolley LLC.

The Roundup Concentrate Class Action Lawsuit is Joshua Rawa v. Monsanto Company, Case No. 4:17-cv-01252, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

UPDATE: January 2018, the Roundup Concentrate class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 27, 2020, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving checks in the mail from the Roundup Concentrate class action settlement worth as much as $720. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!