At 42, Dewayne Johnson developed a bad rash that was eventually
diagnosed as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Four years later Johnson — now near death, according to his doctors —
has been awarded a staggering sum of $289 million dollars in damages in a case
against agricultural giant Monsanto.
The former school groundskeeper sued the company, arguing that an
herbicide in the weed killer Roundup, likely caused the disease. His lawyers
also contended Monsanto failed to warn consumers about the alleged risk from
their product.
On Friday, a San Francisco jury agreed. They deliberated for three days
before awarding Johnson $250 million in punitive damages and $39 million in
compensatory damages.
"The jury found Monsanto acted with malice and oppression because
they knew what they were doing was wrong and doing it with reckless disregard
for human life," said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of Johnson's attorneys,
according to the Associated Press.
"This should send a strong message to the boardroom of
Monsanto," Kennedy added.
Johnson's is the first of hundreds of cancer-patient cases against
Monsanto and could be a bellwether of what lies ahead for the company.
As NPR's Bill Chappell reported:
"Claims against Monsanto received a boost in 2015, when the
International Agency for Research on Cancer – part of the World Health
Organization — announced that two pesticides, including glyphosate, are
'probably carcinogenic to humans.'
Monsanto is now facing hundreds of lawsuits, many of which were filed
after that 2015 announcement. Dozens of the suits were joined to be heard in
the court of U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria – who, even as he allowed the
case to proceed, said the plaintiffs 'appear to face a daunting challenge' in
supporting their claims at the next phase of the case."
"We were finally able to show the jury the secret, internal
Monsanto documents proving that Monsanto has known for decades that ... Roundup
could cause cancer," Johnson's lawyer Brent Wisner said in a statement,
according to The Guardian.
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