Jury: Monsanto to Pay $2 billion In Weed Killer Cancer Case

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – A jury ordered agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. to pay a combined $2.05 billion to a couple who claimed the company’s popular weed killer Roundup Ready caused their cancers.

The Oakland jury on Monday delivered Monsanto’s third such loss in California since August.

Alva and Alberta Pilliod claimed they used Roundup for more than 30 years to landscape their home and other properties. They were both diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

A federal jury in San Francisco previously ordered the weed killer maker to pay a man $80 million and a San Francisco jury in August awarded $289 million to a former greenskeeper, though a judge later reduced it.

The trials were the first of an estimated 13,000 lawsuits against Monsanto.

German chemical giant Bayer owns Monsanto and said it will appeal.