Two consumers are looking to intervene in a Delaware case in which Monsanto has agreed to pay up to $45 million to settle claims that it marketed the weed killer Roundup without disclosing its potential cancer risks, arguing the partial settlement would impact their own class action in Missouri.
Because the putative class of consumers in the Delaware case seeks to enjoin the litigation against Monsanto that has already been certified as a class action in a circuit court in Jackson County, Missouri, the District of Delaware should allow named plaintiffs Ryan Tomlinson and Carol Richardson to intervene so they can make their own arguments.
The consumer litigation in Delaware follows a bevvy of personal injury litigation lobbied against Monsanto in recent years in federal and state courts across the country, with the majority of the product liability cases being centralized in Northern California and Missouri, where the company is headquartered.
The personal injury litigation has resulted in three multimillion-dollar jury verdicts for plaintiffs in California, two of which have been upheld by state and federal appellate courts, while the third is still pending on appeal.
The proposed settlement in the Delaware case lists the settlement fund as between $23 million and $45 million and clarifies that the proposed deal would not address injury liability claims, only those for fraud.
Law360: https://www.law360.com/articles/1398484/consumers-want-in-on-monsanto-roundup-suit-in-delaware