(Reuters) -Bayer was ordered on Friday to pay $2.25 billion to a Pennsylvania man who said he developed cancer from exposure to the company’s Roundup weedkiller, the man’s attorneys said.

A jury in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas found that John McKivision’s non-Hodgkins lymphoma was the result of using Roundup for yard work at his house for a period of several years. The verdict includes $250 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages.

“The jury’s punitive damages award sends a clear message that this multi-national corporation needs top to bottom change,” Tom Kline and Jason Itkin, McKivision’s attorneys, said in a joint statement.

  • lennybird@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    36
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    After dealing with Monsanto trolls who admitted to taking a paycheck from them as they disseminated pro-Monsanto rhetoric, this pleases me to no end.

    • negativeyoda@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      5 months ago

      Shit. My dad worked for Monsanto for decades on their environmental legal team (even worked with Clarence Thomas for a bit)

      I’ll talk no end of shit on them

    • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      5 months ago

      admitted

      That’s wild.

      It’s more likely they were weak and unfaithful to their unethical contract, vs. paid by a foreign state actor to stir division, right?

      Imagine admitting you’re such a joke! (Or poor + reckless (could get caught), etc.)

      • lennybird@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        They basically argued that because they work work with the products directly, that made their position on the issue superior, hence why they admitted it.

        They also said it wasn’t a conflict of interest, lmao.