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RPWB Opposes Proposed $2 Billion Roundup Cancer Settlement

Ken Wilson

 

AIKEN, S.C. – Rogers, Patrick, Westbrook & Brickman joined more than 90 other law firms in opposing a proposed class action settlement for people who have developed cancer as a result of exposure to Roundup Weed Killer.

The proposed $2 billion settlement is deeply flawed and would impair cancer victims’ ability to seek appropriate recourse from Monsanto. The chemical giant continues to manufacture Roundup to this day despite science showing how dangerous the product is.

The proposed settlement does not benefit people harmed by Roundup and instead is a way for Monsanto to cap its risk and to reduce how much it will pay to people injured by their products. We also fear this settlement may become a blueprint for other corporations accused of wrongdoing in the future to shirk taking full responsibility for the harm they have caused.

These are three main facets of the proposed deal that are the most problematic:

  • The proposed settlement gives up all of the class members’ punitive damages claims, which would curtail the amount of compensation they receive.
  • People harmed by Roundup would see their litigation against the company stayed (delayed) for four years. During that time, they would be barred from pursuing a lawsuit against Monsanto.
  • The settlement creates a secret science panel that does not include prominent researchers of the cancer-causing ingredient in Roundup. This panel would operate in total darkness to create a single, carefully controlled deposition that would serve as the stipulated ‘science’ of whether Roundup causes cancer in all future litigation.

The full amici brief authored by Arthur H. Bryant, Benjamin L. Bailey and Joshua Hammack of Bailey & Glasser, LLP can be found HERE. In all, 93 law firms and 167 lawyers, including RPWB’s Ken Wilson, signed onto the brief opposing the settlement.

The proposed settlement is pending in the United States District Court of the Northern District of California.

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    $1.5 Billion Syngenta Corn Farmer Settlement Finalized

    Corn Farmer Settlement Checks Are On The Way

    This week we received some very good news for corn farmers nationwide who suffered price losses associated with the botched launch of genetically-modified corn seed by Syngenta in 2013. On January 3, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas in Kansas City approved a $1.5 billion settlement to compensate thousands of farmers for their losses.

    RPWB, along with our Beaumont, Texas- based co-counsel Mitchell Toups of Weller, Green, Toups & Terrell, LLP and Richard Coffman of the Coffman Law Firm, represented the owners of 2,600 farms growing roughly 500,000 acres of corn who saw the value of their corn plummet when China rejected imports of American corn due to it being co-mingled with corn grown from Syngenta Agrisure Viptera seed. The product has since been allowed by Chinese officials.

    Corn farmers who are part of the settlement are receiving Notice of Determination forms that calculate the portion of the settlement they will receive when the checks are distributed later this year. We anticipate the checks will go out in late spring or early summer 2020. Unfortunately, there is still no way to calculate how much each farmer will receive until the Settlement Administrator verifies the total bushels of corn produced by all members of the settlement. We expect that information will be forthcoming in short order.

    There is just one more step for eligible corn farmers. They must complete, sign, and submit an IRS W-9 form to the Claims Administrator to be paid. They may do so in one of two ways: (1) go to www.CornSeedSettlement.com and click SUBMIT MY W-9 FORM, or (2) complete the W-9 form included in the NOD, and mail it to: Corn Seed Settlement Program Claims Administrator, P.O. Box 26226, Richmond, Virginia 23260. There is no deadline to submit your IRS W-9 form, but until you do, you won’t be paid.

    We have appreciated the opportunity to represent such a hard-working, friendly and deserving group of people on this important case. Please let us know if you have any questions.

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