Roundup - Q3 2024 Update
Roundup - Q2 2024 Update
Roundup - Q1 2024 Update
11/11/2023 Update
Roundup - Q4 2022 Update
It is hard to fully understand what has been going on with this docket so we are including again (below) the summary provided in the last newsletter and adding to it with some new developments.
First, we again wanted to remind our Roundup clients that we have achieved at least one goal of this litigation, and that was to help bring to bear enough potential financial pressure for Roundup to be withdrawn from distribution in the United States. No longer will this dangerous product be stocked on shelves for consumer purchase and risk of getting sick.
To recap what has happened over the last year with our roundup clients, our firm was in discussions through most of 2021 with legal counsel for Bayer/Monsanto as the manufacturer of Roundup products regarding settlement. The first big hurdle to negotiating a potential settlement involved agreeing to an interim “stand down” agreement known as a tolling agreement. This was accomplished last summer and all the cases we put on a hold for formal discovery processes to see if both sides could save on all the transactional costs of working up the cases fully, which comes out of any settlement at the end, and devise a settlement structure for the claims based on a number of different criteria that has been used to successfully settle other cases filed in years past. We then completed an audit of the cases but were unable to get the defendant to engage final settlement talks late last year. The reason for that is apparently because the United States Supreme Court had been asked by the Defendant to look into the entire liability issue of Roundup, and hoped to get a determination that they had no liability for this product. The most recent news coming from Washington on those efforts by Bayer/Monsanto is that they did not go well, and with any luck they will get no relief there and have to confront the settlement of these cases again or face trials on them. If in fact this does get us back to serious and final settlement talks, we will be reaching out to most of you soon for more information we will need to exchange with them to get the cases fully evaluated for the settlement discussions.
We also know that the Defendant continued to finally resolve some other cases over the last year and that our cases are essentially “next in line” for this final evaluation so if we don’t get any bad news from the Supreme Court soon on the subject we anticipate likely resolution of these cases by the end of the year.
ROUNDUP UPDATED INFORMATION
Since the last newsletter, we received good news from the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to give the defendant any legal relief. That means the cases are back into settlement posture or workup for trial again. The only bad news is that the few cases that have gone to trial since then were all in favor of the defendant, so they believe that their legal position is better than it was with the early cases that went in favor of Plaintiffs. The defendant’s counsel has also advised us a couple of months ago that they were interested in renewing settlement talks, but so far that has only been lip service. Accordingly, we feel that the best move is to re-file cases in the court system. Monsanto and their lawyers can then either start spending a bunch of money defending them all and facing risky trials again, or get back to the settlement table. We believe that the best place to start filing them again will be in Missouri, where many of the cases were filed in the past and the judges are very familiar with the process. There had also been a few good verdicts there a couple of years ago before this most recent round of defense verdicts.
First, we again wanted to remind our Roundup clients that we have achieved at least one goal of this litigation, and that was to help bring to bear enough potential financial pressure for Roundup to be withdrawn from distribution in the United States. No longer will this dangerous product be stocked on shelves for consumer purchase and risk of getting sick.
To recap what has happened over the last year with our roundup clients, our firm was in discussions through most of 2021 with legal counsel for Bayer/Monsanto as the manufacturer of Roundup products regarding settlement. The first big hurdle to negotiating a potential settlement involved agreeing to an interim “stand down” agreement known as a tolling agreement. This was accomplished last summer and all the cases we put on a hold for formal discovery processes to see if both sides could save on all the transactional costs of working up the cases fully, which comes out of any settlement at the end, and devise a settlement structure for the claims based on a number of different criteria that has been used to successfully settle other cases filed in years past. We then completed an audit of the cases but were unable to get the defendant to engage final settlement talks late last year. The reason for that is apparently because the United States Supreme Court had been asked by the Defendant to look into the entire liability issue of Roundup, and hoped to get a determination that they had no liability for this product. The most recent news coming from Washington on those efforts by Bayer/Monsanto is that they did not go well, and with any luck they will get no relief there and have to confront the settlement of these cases again or face trials on them. If in fact this does get us back to serious and final settlement talks, we will be reaching out to most of you soon for more information we will need to exchange with them to get the cases fully evaluated for the settlement discussions.
We also know that the Defendant continued to finally resolve some other cases over the last year and that our cases are essentially “next in line” for this final evaluation so if we don’t get any bad news from the Supreme Court soon on the subject we anticipate likely resolution of these cases by the end of the year.
ROUNDUP UPDATED INFORMATION
Since the last newsletter, we received good news from the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to give the defendant any legal relief. That means the cases are back into settlement posture or workup for trial again. The only bad news is that the few cases that have gone to trial since then were all in favor of the defendant, so they believe that their legal position is better than it was with the early cases that went in favor of Plaintiffs. The defendant’s counsel has also advised us a couple of months ago that they were interested in renewing settlement talks, but so far that has only been lip service. Accordingly, we feel that the best move is to re-file cases in the court system. Monsanto and their lawyers can then either start spending a bunch of money defending them all and facing risky trials again, or get back to the settlement table. We believe that the best place to start filing them again will be in Missouri, where many of the cases were filed in the past and the judges are very familiar with the process. There had also been a few good verdicts there a couple of years ago before this most recent round of defense verdicts.
Roundup - Q3 2022 Update
First, we again wanted to remind our Roundup clients that we have achieved at least one goal of this litigation, and that was to help bring to bear enough potential financial pressure for Roundup to be withdrawn from distribution in the United States. No longer will this dangerous product be stocked on shelves for consumer purchase and risk of getting sick.
To recap what has happened over the last year with our roundup clients, our firm was in discussions through most of 2021 with legal counsel for Bayer/Monsanto as the manufacturer of Roundup products regarding settlement. The first big hurdle to negotiating a potential settlement involved agreeing to an interim “stand down” agreement known as a tolling agreement. This was accomplished last summer and all the cases we put on a hold for formal discovery processes to see if both sides could save on all the transactional costs of working up the cases fully, which comes out of any settlement at the end, and devise a settlement structure for the claims based on a number of different criteria that has been used to successfully settle other cases filed in years past. We then completed an audit of the cases but were unable to get the defendant to engage final settlement talks late last year. The reason for that is apparently because the United States Supreme Court had been asked by the Defendant to look into the entire liability issue of Roundup and hoped to get a determination that they had no liability for this product. The most recent news coming from Washington on those efforts by Bayer/Monsanto is that they did not go well, and with any luck they will get no relief there and have to confront the settlement of these cases again or face trials on them. If in fact this does get us back to serious and final settlement talks, we will be reaching out to most of you soon for more information we will need to exchange with them to get the cases fully evaluated for the settlement discussions.
We also know that the Defendant continued to finally resolve some other cases over the last year and that our cases are essentially “next in line” for this final evaluation so if we don’t get any bad news from the Supreme Court soon on the subject we anticipate likely resolution of these cases by the end of the year
To recap what has happened over the last year with our roundup clients, our firm was in discussions through most of 2021 with legal counsel for Bayer/Monsanto as the manufacturer of Roundup products regarding settlement. The first big hurdle to negotiating a potential settlement involved agreeing to an interim “stand down” agreement known as a tolling agreement. This was accomplished last summer and all the cases we put on a hold for formal discovery processes to see if both sides could save on all the transactional costs of working up the cases fully, which comes out of any settlement at the end, and devise a settlement structure for the claims based on a number of different criteria that has been used to successfully settle other cases filed in years past. We then completed an audit of the cases but were unable to get the defendant to engage final settlement talks late last year. The reason for that is apparently because the United States Supreme Court had been asked by the Defendant to look into the entire liability issue of Roundup and hoped to get a determination that they had no liability for this product. The most recent news coming from Washington on those efforts by Bayer/Monsanto is that they did not go well, and with any luck they will get no relief there and have to confront the settlement of these cases again or face trials on them. If in fact this does get us back to serious and final settlement talks, we will be reaching out to most of you soon for more information we will need to exchange with them to get the cases fully evaluated for the settlement discussions.
We also know that the Defendant continued to finally resolve some other cases over the last year and that our cases are essentially “next in line” for this final evaluation so if we don’t get any bad news from the Supreme Court soon on the subject we anticipate likely resolution of these cases by the end of the year
Q1 2022 Update 04/13/22
Q1 2022 Update
First, we again wanted to remind our Roundup clients that we have achieved at least one goal of this litigation, and that was to help bring to bear enough potential financial pressure for Roundup to be withdrawn from distribution in the United States. No longer will this dangerous product be stocked on shelves for consumer purchase and risk of getting sick.
In the meantime, our firm was in discussions through most of 2021 with legal counsel for Bayer/Monsanto as the manufacturer of Roundup products regarding settlement. The first big hurdle to negotiating a potential settlement involved agreeing to an interim “stand down” agreement known as a tolling agreement. This was accomplished by early last summer and all the cases we put on a hold for formal discovery processes to see if both sides could save on all the transactional costs of working up the cases fully, which comes out of any settlement at the end, and devise a settlement structure for the claims based on a number of different criteria that has been used to successfully settle other cases filed in years past. Since then, we have been working on the proposed “Master Settlement Agreement” and had hoped that we had completed most of the requirements to take it to the next stage of settlement. These are very complicated term sheets that both sides negotiate to establish a platform for the settlement conditions.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, Bayer has worked out similar terms with a few other firms recently and we were cautiously optimistic that we would have success in these negotiations. These discussions have now progressed to the point where Bayer either needs to sign off on them, or for us to return to the court system and litigate further. If we can reach terms, the case will then be assigned to a “special master” with experience in this field to work on the individual values consistent with other cases that resolved in years past. Once that process is completed (which will take several months), each client would get a recommended valuation proposal for consideration. Clients would then have an option to accept or reject the proposal. Unfortunately, we believe that Bayer is purposefully dragging their feet on this last step in getting the cases settled. We have found out that they have taken another case involving Roundup to the U.S. Supreme Court and are trying to have them rule that Roundup is not hazardous and they cannot be held liable. The Supreme Court in turn has asked the Federal Government to weigh in on this issue. We are hopeful that the Federal Government stays out of the issue for the time being and that would help force settlement of these cases. In the meantime, we are working to establish an expected new timetable it may take for these matters to be vetted by the Supreme Court and our Government. If Bayer loses, we believe that the price of their backdoor efforts to get immunity will be costly to them in future negotiations. Until then, we have to play the wait and see game with them unless they give up on these efforts and move forward with the final stages of the agreement. If so, we will be in touch directly with our clients on an individual basis when that time comes to obtain their consent.
In the meantime, our firm was in discussions through most of 2021 with legal counsel for Bayer/Monsanto as the manufacturer of Roundup products regarding settlement. The first big hurdle to negotiating a potential settlement involved agreeing to an interim “stand down” agreement known as a tolling agreement. This was accomplished by early last summer and all the cases we put on a hold for formal discovery processes to see if both sides could save on all the transactional costs of working up the cases fully, which comes out of any settlement at the end, and devise a settlement structure for the claims based on a number of different criteria that has been used to successfully settle other cases filed in years past. Since then, we have been working on the proposed “Master Settlement Agreement” and had hoped that we had completed most of the requirements to take it to the next stage of settlement. These are very complicated term sheets that both sides negotiate to establish a platform for the settlement conditions.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, Bayer has worked out similar terms with a few other firms recently and we were cautiously optimistic that we would have success in these negotiations. These discussions have now progressed to the point where Bayer either needs to sign off on them, or for us to return to the court system and litigate further. If we can reach terms, the case will then be assigned to a “special master” with experience in this field to work on the individual values consistent with other cases that resolved in years past. Once that process is completed (which will take several months), each client would get a recommended valuation proposal for consideration. Clients would then have an option to accept or reject the proposal. Unfortunately, we believe that Bayer is purposefully dragging their feet on this last step in getting the cases settled. We have found out that they have taken another case involving Roundup to the U.S. Supreme Court and are trying to have them rule that Roundup is not hazardous and they cannot be held liable. The Supreme Court in turn has asked the Federal Government to weigh in on this issue. We are hopeful that the Federal Government stays out of the issue for the time being and that would help force settlement of these cases. In the meantime, we are working to establish an expected new timetable it may take for these matters to be vetted by the Supreme Court and our Government. If Bayer loses, we believe that the price of their backdoor efforts to get immunity will be costly to them in future negotiations. Until then, we have to play the wait and see game with them unless they give up on these efforts and move forward with the final stages of the agreement. If so, we will be in touch directly with our clients on an individual basis when that time comes to obtain their consent.
Q4 2021 Update
First, we wanted to remind our Roundup clients that we have achieved at least one goal of this litigation, and that was to bring to bear enough potential financial pressure for Roundup to be withdrawn from distribution in the United States. No longer will this dangerous product be stocked on shelves for consumer purchase and risk of getting sick.
In the meantime, Brent Coon & Associates has been in talks most of this year with legal counsel for Bayer/Monsanto as the manufacturer of Roundup products regarding settlement. The first big hurdle to negotiating a potential settlement involved agreeing to an interim “stand down” agreement known as a tolling agreement. This was accomplished earlier this year. Since then, we have been working on a proposed “Master Settlement Agreement”. These are very complicated term sheets that both sides negotiate to establish a platform for the settlement conditions.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, Bayer has worked out similar terms with a few other firms recently and we are cautiously optimistic that we will have success in these negotiations. These discussions have now progressed, and we are cautiously optimistic we will have agreed upon general terms in the next month or two. Assuming so, the case will then be assigned to a “special master” with experience in this field to work on the individual values consistent with other cases that resolved in years past. Once that process is completed (which will take several months), each client will get a recommended valuation proposal for consideration. Clients will then have an option to accept or reject the proposal. We will explain more of those details as the settlement terms and case valuations are established. We will be in touch directly with our clients on an individual basis when that time comes to obtain their consent.
In the meantime, Brent Coon & Associates has been in talks most of this year with legal counsel for Bayer/Monsanto as the manufacturer of Roundup products regarding settlement. The first big hurdle to negotiating a potential settlement involved agreeing to an interim “stand down” agreement known as a tolling agreement. This was accomplished earlier this year. Since then, we have been working on a proposed “Master Settlement Agreement”. These are very complicated term sheets that both sides negotiate to establish a platform for the settlement conditions.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, Bayer has worked out similar terms with a few other firms recently and we are cautiously optimistic that we will have success in these negotiations. These discussions have now progressed, and we are cautiously optimistic we will have agreed upon general terms in the next month or two. Assuming so, the case will then be assigned to a “special master” with experience in this field to work on the individual values consistent with other cases that resolved in years past. Once that process is completed (which will take several months), each client will get a recommended valuation proposal for consideration. Clients will then have an option to accept or reject the proposal. We will explain more of those details as the settlement terms and case valuations are established. We will be in touch directly with our clients on an individual basis when that time comes to obtain their consent.