Cancer patient heads to court vs. Monsanto

Lee Johnson’s doctors didn’t think he’d live long enough to testify in court that exposure to Monsanto Co.’s Roundup weed killer caused his deadly cancer.

But the 46-year-old is now first in line to go to trial against the agrochemical giant among thousands of people across the U.S. who blame its herbicide for their disease.

As groundskeeper for the school district in Benicia, Calif., about 40 miles east of San Francisco, Johnson mixed and sprayed hundreds of gallons of Roundup. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, and in July, after chemotherapy and other treatment, his oncologist gave him six months to live.

Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, was first approved for use in Monsanto’s weed killer in 1974. As it grew to become the world’s most popular and widely used herbicide, the question of whether it causes cancer has been hotly debated by environmentalists, regulators, researchers and lawyers — even as Monsanto has insisted for decades that it’s perfectly safe. Now, a jury will decide in a case set to start this week in San Francisco state court.

The outcome won’t be binding on any of the thousands of plaintiffs in St. Louis making similar claims, or for the approximately 300 cases before a federal judge in San Francisco, or even the dozens of lawsuits consolidated in nearby Oakland. But Johnson’s lawyers, who are involved in lawsuits in all those jurisdictions, see his trial as an indicator of how others will go.

The trial is the “canary in the coal mine,” said Tim Litzenburg, a lawyer representing Johnson. “The world is watching, and it’s unofficially a bellwether case.”

Bayer’s $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto closed this month. As of August, Monsanto had a reserve fund for environmental and litigation liability of $277 million, according to a regulatory filing.