Jurors will continue deliberating today, while lawyers for both sides were busy preparing for a second phase in the event the jury finds for plaintiff Edwin Hardeman in this first phase. As part of the preparation, lawyers for both sides have been jockeying over many issues, including what witnesses will and will not be allowed to testify about in a second phase, what type of liability Hardeman’s lawyers can argue, and even how much time Hardeman’s attorneys should be allowed to present their evidence.
Judge Chhabria set specific parameters for how much time each side would have for the trial in total, and Hardeman’s lawyers used much more of their time than did Monsanto’s lawyers during the first phase. As it stands, Hardeman’s side has but 7-1/2 hours left while Monsanto has more than 18 hours left.
Judge Chhabria said he would consider adding some time for the plaintiff, given that side had the burden of proof and had used a good deal of time explaining many scientific principles to the jury necessary for them to understand evidence put on by both sides.
Monsanto attorney Brian Stekloff said that Hardeman’s attorneys had not been as efficient as they could have been, giving a two-hour opening in the first phase. “I don’t know if that was necessary,” he told the judge.
Hardeman’s attorneys have also made it clear that they will be putting on a good deal of evidence about Monsanto’s knowledge of the dangers of its Roundup formulations.”Plaintiff intends to introduce even more evidence in Phase 2 that Roundup is more dangerous than glyphosate because surfactants increase the danger of glyphosate exponentially,” plaintiff’s attorneys told the judge.
Chhabria has agreed – over Monsanto’s objections – to allow Hardeman’s attorneys to proceed in the second phase with a “design defect” argument, though with several caveats.
Meanwhile, yet another new study has been published showing links between glyphosate herbicides and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The study analyzes data from more than 300,000 farmers and agricultural workers from studies done in France, Norway, and the United States. The researchers said that they found “elevations in risks” of non-Hodgkin lymphoma associated with certain insecticides and with glyphosate herbicides. With respect to glyphosate, the specific type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma linked to glyphosate exposure was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the same type of cancer Hardeman has.
