The U.S. District Court has issued an Order regarding preliminary approval of Roundup settlement terms.
The initial portion of the Order appears below with our edit’s in italics.
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Roundup Settlement Preliminary Approval Considered by Court
In addition to resolving tens of thousands of pending Roundup cases, Monsanto has reached a settlement in a newly-filed class action. This new lawsuit, and the accompanying settlement, is designed to resolve all future claims—either by Roundup users who have developed cancer but have not yet sued, or by Roundup users who have not yet developed cancer at all. In contrast to Monsanto’s settlement of the pending cases against it, settlement of this new “futures” class action requires court approval.
A court hearing is scheduled for preliminary approval of Roundup settlement agreement
The Court has set a hearing for July 24, 2020 on whether to grant preliminary approval of the Roundup settlement. The deadline for potential class members to oppose the motion for preliminary approval, or to file objections to any aspect of the settlement, is July 13. Since setting these dates, the Court has received many requests to push them back. These requests come from potential class members who oppose the settlement. The opponents contend that because the settlement it is complex, novel, and problematic in many respects, they need more time to analyze it and file comprehensive opposition briefs. For similar reasons, they contend the Court should take more time to consider the Roundup settlement before holding a hearing on preliminary approval. As they correctly note, careful scrutiny must be given to class action settlements at the preliminary approval stage. To the extent the plaintiffs and Monsanto suggest that it would be no big deal to wait until the final approval stage before fully considering objections to this settlement agreement, they are wrong.
To view the full and unedited District Court document, here.
