Monsanto found liable for cancer, jury awards $80 million

A federal jury in San Francisco on Wednesday awarded a Sonoma County man more than $80 million in compensation and punitive damages from Monsanto Co. for causing his cancer with its Roundup herbicide.

The award to Edwin Hardeman, 70, of Santa Rosa, includes $5.8 million in compensation for medical expenses and past and future pain and suffering, plus $75 million in punitive damages for alleged reckless conduct by Monsanto.

Hardeman was diagnosed in 2015 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is now in remission. He testified he sprayed Roundup on properties in Gualala and Forestville for 26 years to control poison oak and weeds.

The case was the first to go to trial of more than 760 federal lawsuits pending in the court of U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria against Monsanto for lymphoma allegedly caused by Roundup.