Calif. Judge Issues Tentative Order Granting Motion to Toss $250 Punitive Damage Verdict in Roundup Case

SAN FRANCISCO –– A California judge has issued a tentative order granting Monsanto’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict with regard to punitive damages, opining in the tentative ruling that the plaintiff “presented no clear and convincing evidence of malice or oppression to support an award of punitive damages” in the Roundup personal injury suit.

In the tentative ruling filed Oct. 10, the California Superior Court for San Francisco County said that the defendant’s efforts to investigate and test its glyphosate-based herbicides “is not consistent with a finding of conscious disregard.”

“Given the state of medical and scientific knowledge there …