A Calgary man who lived on a farm in Carman, Man., as a child has filed a lawsuit saying chemicals he was exposed to resulted in a cancer diagnosis. The plaintiffs in the case are Kevin Giesbrecht and his common-law spouse, Jennifer McAlpine, who now live in Calgary. According to court documents, Giesbrecht lived on […] Read more

Former Manitoba man sues Bayer for causing his cancer

Chlormequat found in oat foods prompts U.S. lawsuits
Class action suits rely on Environmental Working Group scientists who claim much lower safe limit than EPA
Chlormequat use in oat production has prompted two class action lawsuits in California against General Mills and Quaker Oats.

Court remedy sought for unfulfilled contracts
Sask. company claims equipment breakdown at a third-party mill caused it to declare force majeure on contracted oats
More than two dozen farmers are moving ahead with legal action against Purely Canada Foods after it failed to honour contracts for gluten-free oats. The dispute centres on 2022 gluten-free oat contracts. On March 1, 2023, the company sent a letter to the farmers saying it was voiding the contracts because oat processing machinery had failed the previous fall and it couldn’t accept the crop.

Bayer, BASF win new trial on damage award in U.S. dicamba suit
Reuters — Bayer and BASF have won a new trial on US$60 million in punitive damages they were ordered to pay a Missouri peach farmer who said dicamba, a herbicide they produced, drifted onto his orchard and harmed his crops. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that a federal jury was wrongly told […] Read more

BSE lawsuit dismissed — but long-running legal battle not over
Judge agrees Ottawa failed to take steps to keep BSE out of Canada, but says that’s not negligence
Reading Time: 3 minutes An Ontario Supreme Court judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit that alleged the federal government was negligent nearly two decades ago when it didn’t take measures that could have prevented the BSE crisis. But the case, launched in 2005, isn’t over yet. Lawyers for the plaintiff, an Alberta ranch, have already launched an appeal. The […] Read more

JBS reaches ‘icebreaker’ settlement of beef price-fixing claims
Reuters — JBS has agreed to pay US$52.5 million to settle litigation accusing meatpacking companies of conspiring to limit supply in the $63 billion-a-year U.S. beef market in order to inflate prices and boost profit. The preliminary settlement by the Brazilian company and its U.S. units with so-called direct purchasers was disclosed on Tuesday, and […] Read more

Bayer wins second straight verdict in a Roundup cancer case
Plaintiff's settlement demands unreasonable, company said
Reuters — A California jury found that Bayer’s Roundup herbicide was not the cause of a woman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Bayer said on Thursday, delivering the chemical giant its second trial victory over claims the popular herbicide causes cancer. The jury in San Bernardino County found that Donnetta Stephens’ cancer was not caused by her exposure […] Read more

Bayer wins its first Roundup jury verdict in case of child’s cancer
Reuters — Bayer won its first trial over claims its Roundup herbicide causes cancer after a California jury found that the herbicide was not a substantial cause of a child’s rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the company said on Tuesday. Destiny Clark alleged that her son Ezra developed Burkitt’s lymphoma after he was exposed to […] Read more

U.S. judge rejects Roundup settlement plan as ‘unreasonable’
Proposal would cover suits over future illnesses
Reuters — A U.S. judge rejected Bayer’s US$2 billion class action proposal to resolve future lawsuits alleging its Roundup herbicide causes cancer, saying in a Wednesday order that parts of the plan were “clearly unreasonable.” U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said the proposal “would accomplish a lot for Monsanto,” which Bayer […] Read more

U.S. judge raises doubts ahead of hearing on Roundup settlement
'The last question is a killer'
Reuters — A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday questioned a US$2 billion proposal by Bayer that would create a framework for resolving future claims that its Roundup herbicide causes cancer, casting doubt on the plan a day before a key hearing. Bayer and class action attorneys hope U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco […] Read more