Monsanto Co. is seeking summary judgment in a Roundup cancer lawsuit on the grounds that the plaintiff is unable to prove the herbicide caused her non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The lawsuit, filed in April 2020 by Texas resident La Yuanda Denkins, is part of a third wave of more than 40 Roundup lawsuits that were identified in the federal court system.
In December 2020, wave three plaintiffs were instructed to submit expert reports showing causation between Roundup and cancer no later than June 29, 2021. Denkins failed to submit this report, according to court documents.
“To prevail on any of her claims, Plaintiff La Yuanda Denkins…must prove that Roundup was the proximate cause of her cancer. Whether Roundup—a chemical compound—is defective, can cause cancer generally, and whether it actually did cause Plaintiff’s cancer specifically, are specialized issues for which expert testimony is required. Plaintiff failed to disclose any expert reports regarding specific causation…Without expert testimony to prove specific causation, none of Plaintiff’s claims may proceed,” Monsanto stated.
Monsanto began selling Roundup, which contains the active ingredient glyphosate, in 1974. Today, glyphosate products are the most widely used herbicides in the world, and approximately 250 million pounds of it are sprayed on crops in the United States per year. In 2015, Glyphosate was classified as a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, according to the lawsuit.
The defendants are represented by Wilkinson Stekloff LLP, Hollingsworth LLP, Covington & Burling LLP, and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.
The plaintiff is represented by Houssiere, Durant & Houssiere, LLP.
