SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Superior Court recently reduced the awards in a case against Monsanto by $200 million, amid the plaintiff's allegations that he contracted cancer from being exposed to the company's weedkiller.
The plaintiff, Dewayne Johnson, was originally awarded $250 million in punitive damages and $39.35 million in compensatory damages by the jury, but Judge Suzanne Bolanos reduced the damages to make the compensatory-to-punitive ratio one-to-one.
Peter Vujin, a Miami-based attorney, said the one-to-one ratio was a legal requirement.
"Basically, pursuant to the Law, she had to reduce the punitive damages since the ration (by law) was set at 1:1," Vujin told the Northern California Record.
Vujin added that Monsanto would be appealing the decision, and the plaintiff was more likely to receive the money if the original award was legal.
"It was not something she did out of her own free will, but just to make the Jury's award legal, lawful, and therefore, not disturbed on Appeal, as Monsanto already argued it will appeal this decision," Vujin said. "She was trying to tell the jury it was her job and duty to be the check on arbitrary awards, even though she did not like what she was doing."
In fact, this reduction in the award amount may prove beneficial to the plaintiff in future hearings, Vujin explained.
"Even though it may not appear immediately beneficial to the claimant, this decision may enable the Court of Appeals to uphold the Final Judgment, and thereby help the claimant, who will get his money sooner and not have to go through another trial," Vujin said.