Bayer released details on a 21-year U.S. nationwide class settlement on Feb. 17 to address current and future claims related to its herbicide Roundup, which it acquired from Monsanto in 2018, and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) injuries, as the German chemical giant seeks litigation certainty.
Bayer will make $7.25 billion in payments to current and future claimants through “declining capped annual payments for up to 21 years,” giving the company control and certainty over the litigation, the company shared. Law firms representing the class sought preliminary approval of the deal from the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, Missouri.
As a result of the settlement deal, Bayer’s provision and liabilities for litigation now total €11.8 billion, including €9.6 billion for glyphosate, compared to €7.8 billion on Sept. 30, 2025, Bayer shared. The ag chemical giant now expects negative free cash flow in 2026 and has moved back reporting on its 2025 financial results and 2026 guidance to March 4, which was initially slatted for end of February.
The settlement decision was “to contain the litigation,” and the agreement does “not contain any admission of liability or wrongdoing,” Bayer shared. Glyphosate-based herbicides are safe and not carcinogenic, based on “an extensive body of science,” Bayer defended.
Separately, Bayer is waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to review Monsanto Company v. Durnell, a case where John L. Durnell alleged that he developed NHL due to exposure to Roundup and glyphosate. Monsanto reached agreement on other Roundup cases on confidential terms and settled eight polychlorinated biphenyls verdicts related to the Sky Valley Education Center, the company shared.
“The proposed class settlement agreement, together with the Supreme Court case, provides an essential path out of the litigation uncertainty and enables us to devote our full attention to furthering the innovations that lie at the core of our mission: Health for all, Hunger for none. This litigation and the resulting cost underscore the need for guidance from the Supreme Court on clear regulation in American agriculture. The class settlement and Supreme Court case are both necessary to help bring the strongest, most certain and most timely containment to this litigation,” Bill Anderson, CEO of Bayer, said in a statement.
