Bayer Questioned by Judge on Future Claims Settlement Plan (3)

摘要

Bayer AG faced probing questions from a judge over its plan to pay as much as $2 billion to resolve future lawsuits over claims that its Roundup weed killer causes cancer.Bayer and lawyers representing consumers presented the deal Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco, who last year rejected a $1.25 billion proposal.The settlement is part of a broader $11.6 billion agreement to resolve Roundup lawsuits from about 125,000 consumers and farmers in the U.S. Another piece of the broader accord --$650 million for hundreds of U.S. cities, counties and ports suing over toxic PCB contamination -- faced pushback from a federal judge in Los Angeles. There, too, Bayer and lawyersrepresenting plaintiffs have been sent back to the drawing board multiple times.The litigation over both Roundup and PCBs remains a lingering obstacle for Bayer from its purchase of Monsanto Co., as the settlement process drags on and more lawsuits over the weedkiller pile up almost daily. Bayer shares showed little change Thursday in Frankfurt trading.