Bayer Banks on US Supreme Court’s Help to Rein In Roundup Lawsuits

Justices hear appeal of verdict linking weedkiller to cancer as company seeks to curtail litigation that’s been a drag on shares.

Weeds are sprayed with a bottle of Bayer AG Roundup weedkiller in Princeton, Illinois.Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Bayer AG is counting on the US Supreme Court to pare down lawsuits over its top-selling Roundup weedkiller and help corral the decade-long litigation that has cost the company more than $10 billion and cast a pall over its stock price.

Bayer’s attorneys during arguments Monday will urge the high court to overturn a $1.25 million Missouri jury verdict for a man who claims Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma and should have had a cancer warning label. The company contends that since US regulators didn’t require a cancer warning, federal law bars those types of suits.