December 13, 2021 (Los Angeles) – Proskauer, a leading international law firm, secured a landmark victory for Monsanto in a case brought by a woman claiming that use of the herbicide Roundup caused her non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A California jury rejected the claims, returning a defense verdict on all counts.
The verdict in Stephens v. Monsanto is the second defense verdict in the Roundup mass tort litigation and the first involving a plaintiff who used the product herself. All prior trials with plaintiffs who claimed to have personally applied Roundup resulted in verdicts against Monsanto ranging from $80 million to over $2 billion.
Over 20 witnesses testified in the five-month trial, with some phases taking place in person and others by Zoom. In reaching a defense verdict, the San Bernardino County jury concluded not only that Roundup did not cause Mrs. Stephens’s cancer, but that Roundup performs safely and does not pose a cancer risk. This defense verdict on “general causation” is the first of its kind, with the only prior verdict for Monsanto addressing whether a specific individual’s exposure to Roundup was sufficient to cause cancer. In deciding that Roundup does not cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the jurors add their voices to those of regulators in Sacramento, Washington, D.C., and around the world, all of whom have consistently reached the same conclusion.
The Proskauer team was led by Bart Williams and Manuel Cachán, and included partner Lee Popkin, senior counsel Shawn Ledingham, special litigation counsel Jennifer Jones, associates Jennifer Yang, Christina Assi, Kelly Curtis, Om Alladi, Hena Vora, Seth Victor, Hannah Silverman, and paralegals Jeff Soldridge, Stacey Evans, Abby Rubin, Julian McCarthy, and Catie Goodell (Litigation).
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