BAYER / Monsanto has failed to overturn a jury decision ordering the company pay damages to a California groundskeeper after it found the company’s glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup had caused his cancer.
Judge Suzanne Bolanos, sitting in the Superior Court of California ruled a massive cut in the punitive damages from $US 250 million ($A354m) to $US39m ($A55.2m), leaving a total liability of $US78m ($A110.4m).
However, she ruled out granting Bayer / Monsanto a new trial, which the company was pushing for.
If the legal team of the plaintiff, Dewayne Johnson, does not agree to the lower punitive damages then the judge will order a new trial to consider what a fair payment is.
Although the lower fine was some consolation for Bayer the precedent that glyphosate causes cancer remains, potentially opening the floodgates for many more Roundup-based compensation claims.
Markets did not react favourably to the news, in spite of the potential of less of a hit to the Bayer balance sheet, which bought out Monsanto earlier this year.
Bayer’s shares on the Frankfurt stock exchange in Germany fell 2.5 per cent on Friday on the back of the news before bouncing back in trade early this week.
It has been reported that several jurors wrote to the appeals judge, Suzanne Bolanos, urging her not to overturn the decision after she had previously discussed the potential of a retrial.
Bayer will lodge another appeal against the verdict.
In a statement the company welcomed the reduction in damages but said it would continue to fight to fully clear its name.
“The court’s decision to reduce the punitive damage award by more than $US200 million is a step in the right direction, but we continue to believe that the liability verdict and damage awards are not supported by the evidence at trial or the law and plan to file an appeal with the California Court of Appeal,” a statement read.