SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Agribusiness company Monsanto is asking a San Francisco judge to throw out a jury’s $289 million award to a former school groundskeeper who said the company’s Roundup weed killer left him dying of cancer.
Attorneys for Monsanto said in court documents filed late Tuesday that DeWayne Johnson failed to prove that Roundup or similar herbicides caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
They also said there was no evidence that Monsanto executives were malicious in marketing Roundup.
A jury last month determined that Roundup contributed to Johnson’s cancer, and Monsanto should have provided a label warning of a potential health hazard.
It awarded Johnson $39 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages.
Johnson’s lawsuit was the first of hundreds to go to trial alleging Roundup caused cancer.
