Time flies when a big case approaches. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria has set anevidentiary hearing for Jan. 28 at 9 a.m. local time in federal court in San Francisco to be followed by a “Daubert” hearing that day at 2 p.m. The hearings are to consider evidence and experts that will be key to the first-ever federal trial taking up claims that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicides can cause cancer and Monsanto has covered up the risks. Video recording of the proceedings is being allowed.
Chhabria has taken the unusual step of agreeing with a request from the attorneys representing Monsanto and its owner Bayer AG to bifurcate the trial. The first phase, per Monsanto’s request, will deal only with evidence relevant causation – if its products caused the cancer suffered by plaintiff Edwin Hardeman. Evidence of Monsanto efforts to manipulate regulators and the scientific literature and “ghost write” various articles would only be presented in a second phase of the trial if jurors in the first phase find the herbicides were a substantial factor in causing Hardeman’s cancer.
The parties are in disagreement over exactly what evidence should be allowed in the causation phase.
Monsanto specifically has asked the judge to exclude from evidence:
- A 2001 email detailing internal discussions regarding an independent epidemiology study published that year.
- A 2015 internal email regarding the company’s relationship with and funding of the American Council on Science and Health, a group that purports to be independent of industry as its promotes safety messaging about glyphosate products.
- A 2015 email chain includinginternal commentary by Monsanto scientist Bill Heydens about the role surfactants play in glyphosate formulated products.
For point 1, attorneys for Hardeman have said they do not intend to try to introduce the evidence “unless the door is opened byMonsanto.”
For point 2, they also said they do not intend to introduce the ACSH correspondence “unless Monsanto in anyway relies on the ACSH’s junk science positions regarding the carcinogenicity” of glyphosate-based formulations “or attackson IARC’s classification of glyphosate.”
As for the 2015 Heydens email chain, attorney’s for Hardeman argue the correspondence is illuminating to the causation question. Heydens’ email refers to the results of a 2010 study referred to as George et al., which found a statistically significant increase of tumors on the skin of rodents following exposure to a formulated Roundup product. The study is one relied upon by plaintiffs’ general causation experts.
The letter brief laying out the positions by opposing parties is here.
In a separate issue – the ongoing government shut-down could impact the Feb. 25 trial date for the Hardeman case. Judge Chhabria has said that he does not intend to ask jurors to sit in a trial without being paid.
