The jurors who awarded $289 million to former school groundskeeper, Dewayne Johnson- who is dying of cancer thanks to his use of Roundup – are begging San Francisco judge Suzanne Bolanos “to reconsider her tentative decision to overturn most of the damages against Monsanto Co.”1
“San Francisco Superior Court Judge Suzanne Bolanos didn’t formally rule on any issues after a two-hour hearing to consider Monsanto’s demand to toss out the entire jury verdict in the first of thousands of similar cases across the country to go to trial.
But Bolanos issued a written tentative ruling ahead of the hearing saying she intended to strike down the punitive damages and schedule a new trial on that issue.”2
Juror Gary Kitahata, said in a letter to the superior court judge, “You may not have been convinced by the evidence but we were. I urge you to respect and honor our verdict and the six weeks of our lives that we dedicated to this trial.”3 Another juror, Robert Howard, said in his letter to the judge “that the jury had paid ‘studious attention’ to the evidence given” and paid equal attention to the instructions she gave. Howard wrote that the possibility that their “unanimous verdict could be summarily overturned demeans our system of justice and shakes my confidence in that system.”4 Well said.
RELATED STORY:
However, “judges have the authority to overturn jury verdicts or modify them by reducing damages. They are not empowered, however, to overturn a jury’s factual findings if there is any evidence to support them.5 So for now, we wait.
Bolanos has said that Johnson’s lawyers did not present evidence to show that Monsanto employees knew or believed the product could cause cancer. She went on to question if California law “authorized the jury’s award of $1 million for each year of his life expectancy before the cancer diagnosis.”6 She sounds like a real peach.
Her final ruling is due today and could be appealed.
“Both Howard and Kitihata said the judge had allowed the jury to decide Monsanto’s responsibility for Johnson’s illness, based on the evidence they heard, and now appeared to be backtracking from her own decision while second-guessing their conclusions.”7
Is it just me or does it sound like someone “got” to her? Like perhaps it was suggested that she rethink what happened? Stranger things have happened. We will keep an eye on this and update you as we have more information.
