This proposal would have chilling effect on pursuit of justice for more than 50,000 cancer victims nationwide.
The latest legal maneuver designed to help Bayer AG (OTCMKTS: BAYRY) circumvent its legal responsibility to cancer victims exposed to the weed killer Roundup has drawn a swift rebuke from the trial lawyers of the Dallas-based Fears Nachawati Law Firm, who represent thousands of individuals who have developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after exposure to Roundup.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, tasked with overseeing the entire Roundup multidistrict litigation (MDL), rejected a proposed class-action settlement in May that would have limited the ability of cancer victims exposed to Roundup to pursue lawsuits. Despite Judge Chhabria’s ruling, Bayer AG again sought to limit its potential liabilities by entering into another purported class-action settlement, this time in federal district court in Delaware.
This week, in order to protect the victims of Roundup, Fears Nachawati filed a brief in support of the transfer of the Delaware class-action litigation into the MDL and asked for all future class-certification and settlement decisions to be made by the MDL judge. “Judge Chhabria has consistently provided thoughtful leadership and direction throughout the course of this litigation. His rulings, including his recent denial of Bayer’s settlement proposal, have exposed the flaws and shortcomings of the company’s legal strategy,” Fears Nachawati co-founder Majed Nachawati said. “There are more than 50,000 cases nationwide that remain unresolved and would remain so if this company had its way,” Mr. Nachawati continued. “This latest move is a transparently obvious attempt for Monsanto to subvert Judge Chhabria’s denial of the future class.”