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SF appeals court upholds $86.2 million award to a couple who developed cancer from using herbicide

By KTVU Staff
Published  August 10, 2021 2:32pm PDT
San Francisco
KTVU FOX 2

Appeals court upholds $86.2M award to couple who developed cancer from using Monsanto products

An appeals court in San Francisco upheld an $86.2 million award to a couple who developed cancer from using Monsanto's Round Up for 30 years.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - An San Francisco appeals court upheld an $86.2 million award to a Livermore couple who developed cancer after spraying Monsanto's Roundup, a weed-killer, in their yards for 30 years.

Alva and Alberta Pilliod were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 69 and 70 in 2011 and 2015 respectively, according to court documents. 

The First District Court of Appeal handed down the 2-1 court ruling, the couple received about $70 million in punitive damages and about $16.2 million in compensatory damages according to the court documents.

SEE ALSO: Bayer to pay up to $10.9 billion to settle Monsanto case

The court said jurors were entitled to conclude that the company had evidence that Roundup could cause cancer, and withheld that evidence from its customer. 

The verdict was the the third by a Bay Area jury to find Monsanto at fault for knowingly marketing a dangerous product, and the third to be upheld by an appeals court, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.