There was a directed verdict this week in the second of thousands of Roundup lawsuits excluded from Multi District Litigation in St. Louis County.
St. Louis 21st Judicial Court Judge Brian May granted defendant's motion for a directed verdict at the close of plaintiff's evidence in Barbara Allegrezza et al. v. Monsanto Company, in which Mark McCostlin is a plaintiff.
“The judge’s ruling in favor of the company’s motion for a directed verdict brings this trial to a successful conclusion,” a spokesperson for Bayer said. “The company has now won nine consecutive trials including the Clark, Stephens, Shelton, Johnson, Alesi, Ferro, Gordon, Evard, and McCostlin cases.”
A directed verdict is a court’s denial of the need for the case to go to the jury.
In their motion for a directed verdict, Monsanto accused the plaintiff of failing to present evidence from which a reasonable jury could determine that McCostlin’s Roundup use more likely than not was a “but for” cause of McCostlin’s NHL.
“Plaintiffs only specific causation expert, Dr. Boyd, testified to the jury only that McCostlin’s Roundup use may have “contributed to the risk” of McCostlin developing NHL,” wrote Monsanto attorney Erik Hansell. “McCostlin’s injury (NHL) and its claimed cause (Roundup) were reasonably ascertainable by him before August 14, 2017. Because he did not sue within two years of that date, his claims are time-barred."
McCostlin sued Monsanto alleging that work-related exposure to the herbicide is responsible for his cancer diagnosis.
Produced by Monsanto, Roundup is an herbicide used to kill weeds that have sprouted among crops. Its active ingredient is glyphosate which plaintiffs nationwide allege causes cancer. Monsanto, the defendant at trial, was acquired by the Germany-based company Bayer in 2018 in a deal worth $63 billion at which time Bayer inherited the Roundup litigation.
As a result of the directed verdict, the jury was dismissed.
“These outcomes are consistent with the extensive body of scientific research on glyphosate-based herbicides over four decades, as well as the assessments of the EPA and other leading health regulators worldwide which support the conclusion that Roundup™ is not carcinogenic and can be used safely,” the Bayer spokesperson told the St. Louis Record.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, McCostlin, 64, was diagnosed in his late 50s with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL). He is currently in remission from his illness.
McCostlin is preparing an appeal of the directed verdict, according to Majed Nachawati of Nachawati Law Group who is of counsel to the Lenexa, Kansas resident.
"It’s unfortunate that pretrial rulings prevented jurors in this case from seeing and hearing all of the evidence," Nachawati said."We are committed to this cause and will continue the fight on behalf of the many cancer victims who deserve justice."