Products Liability Law Reporter

From 1998 through 2014, Kelly Martel used Roundup weedkiller at three different locations. In 2020, she was diagnosed as having non-Hodgkin lymphoma. She underwent treatment for her disease and later suffered a recurrence.

Martel sued Monsanto Co., Nouryon Chemicals LLC, Nouryon USA LLC, and Nouryon Surface Chemistry LLC, alleging negligence and strict liability product defect. The plaintiff asserted that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, which combines with a surfactant and other chemicals, leads to an increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Suit also alleged that Nouryon’s surfactant, polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA), allows the glyphosate in Roundup to penetrate the skin and bones in higher concentrations. POEA has been estimated to be 40 times more toxic than glyphosate alone and has been banned in Europe, the plaintiff argued.

The jury awarded $3.5 million, including $3 million in punitive damages against Monsanto. It apportioned liability at 92.5% to Monsanto and 7.5% to Nouryon.

Citation: Martel v. Nouryon Chems. LLC, No. 210900084 (Pa. Ct. Com. Pl. Phila. Cnty. Dec. 6, 2023).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ member John T. Boundas, AAJ member Walt Cubberly, AAJ member Margret Lecocke, and Conor Cathey, all of Houston; AAJ member Scott Frieling, Dallas; and AAJ member Rosemary Pinto, Philadelphia.

Comment: In Whalen v. Monsanto Co., 2024 WL 263513 (E.D. La. Jan. 24, 2024), physician Joseph Rumage worked for Monsanto Co. as an independent contractor. For approximately 20 years, Rumage worked at Monsanto’s Luling, La., plant, providing professional ophthalmological services to Monsanto employees. Additionally, Rumage—an avid gardener—used Roundup weedkiller on a regular basis. He was diagnosed as having squamous cell carcinoma of the skin and died less than three years after his diagnosis. His children sued Monsanto, alleging claims for survival and wrongful death. The plaintiffs, who asserted that Rumage’s exposure to and use of Roundup led to his skin cancer and death, claimed dangerous design under the Louisiana Products Liability Act (LPLA), failure to warn under the LPLA, breach of implied and express warranty under the LPLA, negligence, redhibition, and toxic substances negligence. The court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims for survival, redhibition, and punitive damages. It granted the defendant’s motion to exclude the opinions and testimony of Scott Boniol and the defendant’s motion to strike the affidavit of general causation from Raymond Clay Gould. The defense then moved for summary judgment on the plaintiffs’ remaining wrongful death claims. Granting the motions, the court concluded that the defendant had shown no material issue of fact remained for trial as to causation and that the plaintiffs had failed to offer any competent summary judgment evidence on the element of causation. The plaintiffs’ offer of internal documents alone, without admissible expert evidence to put them in context, failed to demonstrate that Rumage had been exposed to a harmful level of Roundup, the court reasoned.