Bayer Faces Roundup Weedkiller Trial Featuring Ex-Monsanto CEO’s Testimony

(Bloomberg) -- Bayer AG faces a trial over its Roundup weedkiller in which the ex-chief executive officer of its Monsanto unit will testify for the first time as to what he knew about the product's cancer risks.

Jurors in Kansas City, Missouri, are slated to hear opening arguments Tuesday in the trial of a lawsuit filed by a former Roundup user who blames the herbicide for causing him to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Bayer, which acquired Roundup-maker Monsanto, has paid billions to settle tens of thousands of cases, but still faces about 30,000 suits over the product.

Hugh Grant, Monsanto's ex-CEO, was ordered by a judge to testify in the Missouri case and the state's appeals' courts upheld that ruling. It's the first Roundup trial outside California, where the company lost three cases averaging almost $50 million in damages for each consumer and defeated two other cases.

“He is absolutely going to take the witness stand,” Jim Onder, a lawyer representing plaintiff Allan Shelton, said in an interview.

Bayer said that while it has sympathy for Shelton, extensive research supports its position that Roundup isn't responsible for his illness.

The company also said in a statement that Grant's testimony is unnecessary after he gave a five-hour deposition, but “we remain confident that his participation in this trial will only strengthen our argument that the company relies on the conclusions of leading expert regulators worldwide.”

Grant led St. Louis-based Monsanto from 2003 until Bayer paid $63 billion to buy the chemical maker in 2018. In court filings, Shelton's attorneys said he was the decision-maker about how Roundup was marketed and sold over those 15 years.

Grant's turn on the witness stand comes as Bayer officials await the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on whether to hear its appeal in a Roundup case that could help the company fend off thousands of future suits.

Bayer -- which already set aside more than $11 billion to resolve Roundup suits -- is ready to add another $4.5 billion if the high court refuses to review a $25 million award to a California plaintiff.

It wants the justices to find federal herbicide regulations trump state regulatory requirements. The company's lawyers believe such a ruling would go a long way to dissuading future Roundup suits.

The case is Shelton v. Monsanto, 1816-CV17026, Missouri District Court for the 16th Judicial District (Kansas City).