Calif. Judge Denies Monsanto’s Motion for JNOV, Proposes Remittitur of $250 Million Punitive Damage Award

SAN FRANCISCO –– A California judge has denied Monsanto’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict in a Roundup case that ended in a $289 million verdict, opining that there is “no legal basis to disturb” the jury’s finding that the plaintiff’s exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide was a substantial factor in his illness, and departing from a prior tentative order in which it proposed that the $250 million punitive damage award should be tossed entirely.

In the Oct. 22 order, the California Superior Court for San Francisco County rejected the defendant’s challenges to the plaintiff’s reliance on differential diagnosis-based …