Bayer has won a legal victory in its fight to limit liability for claims that its glyphosate weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, after a U.S. appeals court threw out a lawsuit.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City rejected a plaintiff’s claim that state law was violated by the failure to include a warning about the disease on the label of Roundup marketed by his Monsanto unit.
In a note, analysts at investment bank Barclays said that “this ruling was not expected.”
Glyphosate is a herbicide for crops such as corn that was threatened with being banned in Mexico during the López Obrador administration due to its alleged health risks.
However, last March the government reversed its ban as of April 1, recognizing that there were no economic alternatives for planting, so removing it from the market would drive up the prices of many agricultural products.
Bayer shares rose as much as 13.2 percent in German trading yesterday on optimism that the court decision could eliminate much of the remaining lawsuits against Roundup.
But the Philadelphia decision conflicts with rulings by federal appeals courts in San Francisco and Atlanta in similar cases.
This raises the possibility that the US Supreme Court could resolve the split if an appeal is filed.
Bayer has faced extensive litigation over Roundup and as of Thursday had seen its stock price fall more than 73 percent since it bought Monsanto for $63 billion in June 2018.
It settled much of the litigation for $10.9 billion in 2020, but still faces some 58,000 claims. Another 114,000 claims have been settled or rejected.
Although Bayer had won 14 of 23 Roundup lawsuits as of July 23, one victory was overturned on appeal, leaving it with billions of dollars in damages.
Roundup is among the most widely used herbicides in the United States. Bayer phased out sales for home use last year.
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