A California Judge reduced the more than $200 million award to less than $40 million in a case against Bayer AG’s Roundup herbicide, formally of Monsanto.
Dow Jones reports a San Francisco Superior Court Judge said the $250 million in punitive damages awarded by the jury must be slimmed down to match the $39.25 million in compensatory damages that the jury found appropriate. By doing so, the judge allowed the ruling against Bayer AG to stand.
Bayer inherited thousands of similar lawsuits as part of its acquisition of Monsanto that closed earlier this year. The ruling differs from a tentative decision reached by the judge earlier this month to throw out and order a new trial.
Bayer will appeal the verdict and previously asked the court to overturn the ruling, citing that the plaintiff’s attorneys relied on evidence that did not take into consideration sound scientific fact.
Source: National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.