Last week Judge Curtis Karnow issued an order clearing the way for jurors to consider not just scientific evidence related to what caused Johnson’s cancer, but allegations that Monsanto suppressed evidence of the risks of its weed killing products. Karnow ruled that the trial will proceed and a jury would be allowed to consider possible punitive damages.
Justice at Last?
A judge in California is poised to decide if Monsanto has been getting away with murder.
Reporting for the Guardian, Carey Gillam writes:
At the age of 46, DeWayne Johnson is not ready to die. But with cancer spread through most of his body, doctors say he probably has just months to live. Now Johnson, a husband and father of three in California, hopes to survive long enough to make Monsanto take the blame for his fate.
According to Gillam, on June 18, Johnson will become the first person to face down Monsanto in a courtroom over allegations that the biotech giant has long known that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer—but has deliberately hidden the truth from farmers and consumers.
And, Gillam writes, Johnson’s case just received a major boost:
Last week Judge Curtis Karnow issued an order clearing the way for jurors to consider not just scientific evidence related to what caused Johnson’s cancer, but allegations that Monsanto suppressed evidence of the risks of its weed killing products. Karnow ruled that the trial will proceed and a jury would be allowed to consider possible punitive damages.
Will Johnson prevail? And set the precedent for hundreds of similar lawsuits to come? All eyes will be watching.
Read ‘Landmark Lawsuit Claims Monsanto Hid Cancer Danger of Weedkiller for Decades’