© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Bottles of Roundup, a brand owned by Bayer, are seen for sale in a store in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) – The latest trial over claims that Bayer (OTC:)’s Roundup weedkiller causes cancer ended with a hung jury on Friday, the company said, highlighting the continued uncertainty surrounding the litigation.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Vivian Medinilla declared a mistrial in a case brought by the family of deceased South Carolina groundskeeper Anthony Cloud, after jurors said they could not agree on a verdict after more than three days of deliberations.
A lawyer for the Cloud family could not immediately be reached for comment. The family can still pursue another trial.
The mistrial came as jurors were deliberating in a similar case in Arkansas.
Around 165,000 claims have been made in the U.S. against Bayer for personal injuries allegedly caused by Roundup, which the company acquired as part of its $63 billion purchase of U.S. agrochemical company Monsanto (NYSE:) in 2018.
Most plaintiffs, including Cloud’s family and the Arkansas plaintiffs, allege that the product caused a type of cancer called non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Bayer has said that decades of studies have shown Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are safe for human use.
Roundup is among the most widely used weedkillers in the United States, though Bayer phased out its sales for home use last year.
Bayer has won 10 of the last 16 Roundup trials, but plaintiffs have scored large verdicts totaling more than $4 billion, including $2.25 billion in a single case in January.
The company is appealing those verdicts, which include large punitive damages awards that are likely to be reduced because they exceed U.S. Supreme Court guidance.
The losses have led some investors to question Bayer’s legal strategy in defending the Roundup cases, though the company has so far held firm that it will fight them in court.
In 2020, Bayer settled most of the then-pending Roundup cases for up to $9.6 billion but failed to get a settlement covering future cases. More than 50,000 claims remain pending, and at least 10 additional Roundup trials are expected later this year.
