A federal judge on Wednesday last week refused to approve Bayer AG’s US$650 million settlement of claims by about 2,500 US cities, counties and ports over pollution from polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB).
US District Judge Fernando Olguin in Los Angeles said that the broad scope of the release of legal liabilities for Bayer in the settlement was a problem.
The judge said that he could not approve an accord that shielded Bayer from claims by people or entities not included in the lawsuit.
Photo: Reuters
The ruling is a blow to Bayer’s efforts, in a US$12 billion proposal that it announced in June, to resolve lingering litigation exposure that the company inherited when it acquired Monsanto Co in 2018.
Bayer would work with the plaintiffs to resolve Olguin’s concerns, it said in an e-mailed statement, adding that it plans to file a revised agreement before the end of the year.
The ruling is “a surprise setback for Bayer,” Susquehanna Financial Group litigation analyst Tom Claps said in an e-mail.
While Olguin’s concerns are “manageable,” Claps said, Bayer is “still facing other PCB litigation nationwide,” including more possible lawsuits from states.
A group of 21 attorneys general, including those from California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Michigan, had raised concerns with the judge that the settlement might block them from pursuing their own legal actions against Bayer.
Cities — including Seattle; San Diego and Oakland, California; and Portland, Oregon — had sued Monsanto, the exclusive maker of PCBs used to cool heavy-duty electrical equipment for more than 40 years, prior to the acquisition by Bayer, which left it to deal with the pollution problems tied to the chemicals.
Separately, a federal judge in San Francisco this month lifted a pause on suits alleging that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide causes cancer.
With thousands of cases still unresolved even after Bayer announced a settlement plan in June, US District Judge Vince Chhabria set a Jan. 25 hearing to get trials restarted.
Bayer lost three Roundup trials in 2018 and last year with average awards of almost US$50 million per plaintiff that sent its stock into a downward spiral.
The company yesterday said that it raised US$1.6 billion by selling most of its stake in Elanco Animal Health Inc, shoring up cash as it faces legal bills over Roundup.
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