Herbicide manufacturer Monsanto, owned by Bayer, will have to pay 78 million dollars to Dewayne Johnson, who fell ill as a result of glyphosate.
A San Francisco judge has significantly reduced the compensation figure that Monsanto will have to pay to Dewayne Johnson, the American gardener who fell ill after using products made by the Bayer-owned company. Judge Suzanne Bolanos lowered the amount to be awarded to the victim to 78 million dollars, which had been set at 289 million dollars at first instance. Despite requests from Monsanto's lawyers, however, the court did not agree to a retrial: good news for Johnson and for the other people who have fallen ill over the years and who will soon face a similar hearing.
Dewayne Johnson, 46, originally from the city of Vallejo in northern California, worked for four years as a gardener and groundskeeper at various public schools in the Benicia district, near San Francisco. During that period, from 2012 to 2016, he used Monsanto's herbicides called Roundup and Ranger Pro, which contain glyphosate, on a daily basis. This substance is considered the cause of Johnson's illness — a cancer of the lymphatic system, or Hodgkin's lymphoma. At the first hearing, the jury had ordered Monsanto-Bayer to pay a fine of 250 million dollars in so-called punitive damages to be awarded to Johnson.
That figure has now been reduced to 37 million, to which a further 41 million in total compensatory damages must be added. The former gardener and his legal team must now decide whether to accept the new settlement or not, although the fact that the judge did not allow Monsanto to seek a new trial has already been regarded as a victory. In any case, the lawyers for the manufacturer of herbicides containing glyphosate (which remains legal in the United States and in Europe) have said they will appeal. It is estimated that there are at least another four thousand cases of people who have fallen ill due to glyphosate in Monsanto products and are ready to file lawsuits.
