On May 25, a federal court in Missouri approved a $21.5 million settlement between Monsanto and a class of consumers who alleged the agrochemical giant used misleading labeling on its Roundup weed killer. The complaint stated that Monsanto misled consumers about how much Roundup could be made from bottles of concentrate. The concentrate labels say the formula “makes up to” a certain amount of herbicide when mixed with water, but the instructions’ fine print says the formula should be mixed at much higher concentrations for best results.
The deal will see Monsanto released from state consumer protection statute claims, in exchange for a common fund of $21.5 million. Roughly $11 million of that will be paid out to the consumers that submitted 71,000 or so validated claims, $6 million will be paid out for plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and about $800,000 will go towards administration and litigation costs.
The case is Elisabeth Martin et al. v. Monsanto Company, case number 5:16-cv-02168, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The related case is Joshua Rawa, case number 4:17-cv-01252, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
