Bayer Rises; U.S. Judge to Cut $80 Million Roundup Jury Verdict
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Bayer AG (BAYRY) - Get Report ADRs were higher Wednesday after U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said he would reduce a jury's $75 million punitive-damages award against the company in a case involving the Roundup weed killer.
The plaintiff in the case, Edwin Hardeman, had said that Monsanto's Roundup weed killer caused his cancer. Bayer purchased Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the judge said he was also considering reducing the jury's $5 million compensatory-damages ruling because Hardeman's cancer was in remission and he was unlikely to suffer as much as he had.
Bayer ADRs were up 1.1% at $17.29.
"It's quite clear that under the Constitution I'm required to reduce the punitive-damages award and it's just a question of how much," Chhabria said. U.S. Supreme Court rulings limit the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages to 9 to 1.
The judge said he would issue a ruling by the end of next week.
Bayer faces lawsuits by more than 13,400 plaintiffs nationwide who say that the company's Roundup product has caused them some form of illness.