Statement on McKivison
On June 4, 2024 Judge Susan Schulman in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas decided on the Company’s post trial motion and reduced the verdict to $400 million in total. The original jury verdict reached on January 26, 2024, totaled $2.25 billion with $250 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages. The Company will seek an appeal from the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Here’s our statement:
“While the court’s decision reduces the unconstitutionally excessive damage award, we still disagree with the ruling on the liability verdict, as the trial was marred by significant and reversible errors that misled and inflamed the jury. There is no other explanation for the excessive damage awards. These errors reinforce the urgent need for legislative reform to clarify that compliance with labels required under federal law is sufficient to meet all state warning requirements. Otherwise, we risk more verdicts and excessive awards for a product that has consistently been found to be safe by regulatory bodies worldwide that will encumber funds that should be used for research and development to field new crop protection tools and help feed the world sustainably. By allowing this misapplication of the law to persist, our nation is needlessly driving up the cost of food and threatening its supply and innovation.
It is clear that when trials focus on the science and regulatory consensus, the Company prevails as it has had favorable outcomes in 14 of the last 20 trials, including the last four, and has resolved the overwhelming majority of claims in this litigation.
The Company stands behind Roundup™ and the overwhelming weight of scientific research and assessments by leading health regulators and scientists, including both the EPA and the EU, that support the safety of glyphosate-based products. No regulatory authority that has independently evaluated glyphosate has found it to be carcinogenic. Recently, the EU Commission re-approved glyphosate for 10 years, following the favorable scientific assessments by its health and safety agencies, including the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which ‘did not identify any critical areas of concern’ impacting public health or the environment in their review of glyphosate in July 2023.”