Positive for Bayer in Frankfurt after favourable US verdict on Monsanto claims

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Bayer is racing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange after a US court overturned a ruling that involved the payment of $185 million in a chemical contamination case. This is the second verdict in favour of the company in a fortnight. In detail, a Washington state appeals court on Wednesday overturned an earlier ruling against Bayer subsidiary Monsanto, accused of chemical contamination of a school in the Seattle region, which would have resulted in the payment of $185 million in damages and other charges. A Monsanto subsidiary that sold the now-banned chemical, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), had been found guilty in 2021 after three teachers at the school claimed they suffered brain injuries from PCBs emitted from the Sky Valley Education Center's lighting system. The Court of Appeals upheld Bayer's arguments stating that the district court had not correctly applied the laws of Missouri, where Monsanto is headquartered, because it allowed claims for damages to be filed many years later, taking into account that Monsanto stopped producing pcb's in 1977 and that the US government banned their production in 1979, after links to cancer were discovered.

Bayer argued that state law limits liability if exposure occurs outside the useful life of a product, which is generally 12 years. The case will be sent back to the district court, which will have to decide whether a retrial is justified. Bayer faces around 200 similar lawsuits from the same school, from students, teachers and family members claiming that PCBs have caused tumours, thyroid problems and other health damage. First instance judges have so far awarded damages of 1.7 billion. Last week, however, an appeals judge in Washington nearly halved, to $438 million, the December 2023 verdict of $857 million in damages from the company. Bayer denied any responsibility for the alleged damages and claims that the school ignored repeated warnings to replace the lamps. The company is appealing all rulings made so far.