Bayer shares slump after $289M Monsanto Roundup verdict
FRANKFURT, Germany - Shares in German farm chemicals, materials and drug company Bayer have plunged in the wake of a U.S. court verdict against Monsanto, which Bayer has acquired.
Shares of Leverkusen-based Bayer fell 11 percent Monday in morning trading in Europe to 83.09 euros per share.
A jury in U.S. federal court in California delivered a $289 million verdict Friday on behalf of a former school groundskeeper, Dewayne Johnson, who said that exposure to Monsanto's Roundup weed killer caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer.
Monsanto has denied a link between the active ingredient in Roundup -- glyphosate -- and cancer, saying hundreds of studies have established that glyphosate is safe.
Bayer completed its takeover of Monsanto on June 7. It says it will no longer use the Monsanto name.
Johnson's lawsuit was the first to go to trial among hundreds filed in state and federal courts saying Roundup causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which Monsanto denies.
Jurors in state Superior Court agreed the product contributed to Johnson's cancer and the company should have provided a label warning of the potential health hazard. Johnson's attorneys sought and won $39 million in compensatory damages and $250 million of the $373 million they wanted in punitive damages.
