January 28, 2019
In a heated exchange Monday, a California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over claims that Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller causes cancer questioned whether a plaintiff's attorney was working in the best interest of his client, saying a proposed jury instruction appeared to advantage litigants in future cases, but not his client.
January 04, 2019
Monsanto Co. on Thursday told the California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over its weedkiller Roundup that consumers' claims in three bellwether cases that the company failed to warn the herbicide caused cancer are preempted by federal insecticide law.
January 01, 2019
Product liability attorneys are closely watching two appeals at the U.S. Supreme Court — one over Merck's osteoporosis drug Fosamax and another involving asbestos and maritime law — as well as the enormous multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis and suits alleging that Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Here, Law360 summarizes the top cases product liability attorneys will be following in 2019.
December 18, 2018
The past year was a lively one on the multidistrict litigation docket as major MDLs over the opiate crisis and the Equifax data breach got up and running, while cases concerning a Monsanto weedkiller and a common hospital technology revved for early bellwether trials.
November 30, 2018
Monsanto Co. told a California federal judge Friday that a dying man's suit alleging the company's Roundup weedkiller caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leaving him less than six months to live, shouldn't be expedited for trial, saying he should be deposed instead.
October 29, 2018
A California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over consumers' claims that Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller caused their cancer said Monday he's "strongly against" individually screening potential jurors for February and May trials, saying it seems Monsanto wants to proceed with jury selection "as if it were a death penalty case."
September 24, 2018
The California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over consumers' claims Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller caused their cancer sought Monday to find more potential bellwether cases to bulk up options for trials slated for February and May.
September 13, 2018
The firm that recently won a $289 million state court verdict for a man who said Monsanto's Roundup caused his cancer can participate in multidistrict litigation over the weedkiller, a California federal judge said Thursday, reversing his prior decision that the firm couldn't participate at trial after an attorney allegedly posted sealed documents online.
July 10, 2018
A California federal judge Tuesday rejected Monsanto Co.'s bid to block multidistrict litigation alleging the company's Roundup weed killer causes cancer and said he'd permit three of the consumer plaintiffs' experts to testify in the case, concluding their opinions, "while shaky, are admissible."
March 14, 2018
A California federal judge criticized the "shaky" expert opinions touted by consumers in multidistrict litigation alleging Monsanto's top-selling weed killer, Roundup, causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, saying at a hearing Wednesday on Monsanto's bid to scrap the claims and end the case that some of the evidence may rise to the level of "junk science."