Sebastopol farmer drops lawsuit against Roundup manufacturer

At the behest of the Sebastopol couple who filed the claim, a Sonoma County judge has dismissed their lawsuit against Monsanto, which had accused the agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation’s Roundup weed killer of causing the husband’s cancer.

Tuesday’s dismissal by Judge Christopher Honigsberg is permanent and means Michael and Bobbie Meyer will not be able to file another claim of this type against the St. Louis-based company. It followed two days of testimony in a jury trial that started Feb. 28.

Court minutes show Honigsberg granted the request from Behram Parekh, one of the Meyers’ attorneys, during a brief morning appearance outside the presence of the jury, which was convened and then excused minutes after the case was dismissed.

Parekh confirmed to The Press Democrat Tuesday afternoon that his clients asked for the dismissal. He declined to elaborate.

Spokespeople for Bayer Corporation, which owns Monsanto, said in a statement “We continue to stand behind the safety of Roundup and will confidently defend the safety of our products and our good faith actions in any future litigation.”

The dismissal brings an abrupt end to a trial that was expected to include testimony on non-consecutive days over five or six weeks.

Filed Aug. 16, 2021, the Meyers’ lawsuit named Monsanto and Wilbur-Ellis Company, which distributed Roundup and included allegations of negligence, design defect, failure to warn, as well as breach of implied warranties and breach of express warranty.

According to the lawsuit, Michael Meyer was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December 2020 after having used Roundup since 2006.

The 58-year-old, according to the suit, applied Roundup on his apple orchard through 2013 and had continued to use the weed killer on other areas of his property, such as roadways, prior to his diagnosis.

Meyer is currently in remission, but suffers from side effects like memory loss and is prone to relapsing, his attorneys said.

Historically, Roundup has faced criticism that it is harmful and can cause cancerous side effects.

Roundup contains glyphosate, a chemical the International Agency for Research on Cancer, based in Lyon, France, said in 2015 is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

Monsanto introduced Roundup in 1974 and, according to Forbes, has settled more than 100,000 lawsuits that alleged the product caused cancer or other health-related concerns as of May 2022, paying out an estimated $11 billion. At that time, another 30,000 suits were pending against Monsanto or Bayer.

In its statement to The Press Democrat last week, Bayer said 11 out of 17 of its most recent trials ended in the company’s favor, and that most claims have been resolved. Most recently, the company won a case, similar to the claims raised by the Meyers, in Arkansas on Friday.

On Wednesday, a Philadelphia jury ruled in favor of Monsanto in a lawsuit filed by a retiree who argued Roundup gave him non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“Bayer has now won three consecutive victories at trial, and 13 of the last 19 cases where judgments were entered at trial, validating the company’s strategy of taking cases to trial based on strong scientific and regulatory evidence,” Bayer officials said in a statement.

“The plaintiffs could not prove that Roundup was the cause of the injuries alleged in these cases, consistent with this science.”

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi