Pharma giant Bayer wins court case against Pennsylvania man, stocks rise

Bayer won a legal victory in its fight to limit liability over claims that its Roundup killer causes cancer, as a US appeals court on Thursday said federal law protects the German company in a lawsuit by a Pennsylvania landscaper.

The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has dismissed David Schaffner’s claim that Bayer’s Monsanto division violated state law by failing to include a cancer warning on the Roundup label.

Schaffner was diagnosed in 2006 with a type of cancer called non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a common complaint of Roundup plaintiffs.

He and his wife Theresa sued Bayer in 2019, in part over how his illness affected their relationship.

Chief Judge Michael Chagares wrote for the three-judge panel unanimously that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act requires statewide uniformity on pesticide labels, and prevented Pennsylvania from adding a cancer warning.

Bayer said the decision conflicts with decisions by the appeals courts in San Francisco and Atlanta in similar cases.

That could raise hopes that the US Supreme Court could step in to resolve the split, and potentially reduce Bayer’s debts.

Shares in Bayer, which have been weighed down by litigation risk for years, were shown 2.6% higher in Friday trading at brokerage Lang & Schwarz.

Chip Becker, the Schaffners’ attorney, said he was disappointed with the decision, and federal law should not preempt his clients’ failure to warn claim. He said the Schaffners are reviewing their legal options.

Bayer said he was pleased with the decision, and the Supreme Court should “address this important legal issue.”

It insisted that Roundup and its active ingredient glyphosate are safe, and said it “continues to stand fully behind” the product.

Bayer has faced extensive litigation over Roundup, and has seen its price drop more than 73% since buying Monsanto for $63 billion in June 2018.

The company settled several Roundup lawsuits for $10.9 billion in 2020, but still faces about 58,000 claims. Another 114,000 claims have been resolved or deemed ineligible.

Although Bayer won 14 of the 23 Roundup trials through July 23, one victory was overturned on appeal, and the loss bound it for billions of dollars in damage awards.

The Schaffners settled with Bayer in September 2022, under the condition that Bayer could convince the courts that federal law mandated Pennsylvania to require a cancer warning.

Chagares said it is, and that this approach “better accomplishes Congress’ stated goal of uniformity in pesticide labeling.”

Roundup is among the most widely used herbicides in the United States. Bayer stopped selling it for home use last year.

The case is Schaffner et al v Monsanto Corp, US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-3075.

-Jonathan Stempel, Reuters