$1.56 Billion Verdict Against Monsanto for Four Roundup Plaintiffs

The case began as three separate petitions. Jimmy and Brenda Draeger sued Monsanto in Cole County Circuit Court in March 2022. Daniel Anderson and Valorie Gunther filed their own petitions there in May 2022. Over Monsanto's objection, the trial court granted the plaintiffs' motion to consolidate, so one jury heard all four claims together. That structure matters to how the number should be read. No single person in this case was awarded $1.56 billion.

The exposure histories were ordinary consumer use rather than commercial application. Gunther used Roundup for close to 40 years on properties in New York. Anderson used it for roughly a decade on his father's property in California and was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma at 32. Jimmy Draeger used it to control weeds on his Missouri property and also developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Brenda Draeger, his wife, brought a loss of consortium claim.

Trial began October 23, 2023. The jury got the case in the early afternoon of November 17 and came back the same evening after fewer than eight hours. Each of the three cancer plaintiffs submitted strict liability design defect, strict liability failure to warn, and negligence. The jury found for the plaintiffs on every claim.

The verdicts broke down this way. Compensatory: $38 million to Anderson, $17.5 million to Gunther, $5.6 million to Jimmy Draeger, and $100,000 to Brenda Draeger. Punitive: $500 million to each of the three cancer plaintiffs, none on the consortium claim. Judgments were signed November 21, 2023.

On March 15, 2024, the trial court granted remittitur. It left every compensatory award untouched and reduced only the punitive damages, tying each one to roughly nine times that plaintiff's own compensatory number. Anderson's $500 million became $342 million, Gunther's became $157.5 million, and Draeger's became $50.4 million. Total punitive damages fell from $1.5 billion to $549.9 million, and the judgment settled at roughly $611 million.

Monsanto appealed to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, in Anderson v. Monsanto Co., No. WD87059. It argued the punitive awards duplicated punishment already imposed in other Roundup cases, sought a statutory credit for prior punitive awards under section 510.263.4, and argued the reduced awards were still grossly excessive under the Due Process Clause. The panel rejected each point. On the statutory credit, it held Monsanto had not shown it stopped the conduct after learning of the danger. On reprehensibility, the opinion described Monsanto's conduct as high on that scale, noting the company kept selling and chose to defend the product rather than change its label or reformulate. The judgments were affirmed in May 2025.

Monsanto sought transfer to the Missouri Supreme Court. On October 9, 2025, that court declined to hear the appeal, without opinion. With post-judgment interest running since 2023, the amount owed has been reported above $700 million.

Matthew A. Clement of Clement, Van Ronzelen & Schulte tried the case for the plaintiffs alongside Bart Rankin and Jay Utley of Forrest Weldon Law Group and McAlan Duncan and Matthew Stubbs of Duncan Stubbs. On appeal, Clement and Joshua Moore appeared as counsel of record for the respondents with Edward Robertson.